Do Ut Des: The Solitary Bliss Sequel
by Sasukec
Summary: "I give so that you might give." It's been 2 long years since Sasuke and Naruto were suspended roommates. What will happen as they take a school trip to Rome, Italy and they are paired as roommates again? Rated M for language and yaoi. SasuNaru, SasuIno.
1. Another Day, Another Dollar

**Sasukec: As promised, here's the start of my weekly updates! Now starts the weekly updates every Saturday and I will try to put them in right on midnight that way they'll be there all day! :D**

**Enjoy :3 **

**Another thing! Imagine everyone looking like they do in their shippuden forms :D**

* * *

Alcohol… It didn't taste great to begin with… And the after taste was even worse. It burned. It burned and made nausea overwhelming. So overwhelming, it was surprising how it was all kept down. Was that the door? Straight ahead? Turn the handle… Voila. Get inside, close the door, catch up on breathing leaning against the wall. This was getting tough. Another door? Easy enough… Second verse, same as the first, right? Here we go… A bed straight ahead. It's not empty… So attracted…

His skin smelled so good, it tasted better than this alcohol. He's resisting? Oh well… There's the wall and I'll pin him. No running now. Such soft hair… Was it always this soft? Don't care now… Getting boxers off is a lot harder than it looks… But manageable. There we go, easy access. Ow, that hurt. Hold him still so he can't do that again… Just keep sucking… Was this his liquid? So warm… Swallowing it all was easy. Off with all clothes now, things are getting more comfortable.

His turn now. Hitting the back of his throat produced a moan… Who's moan? Oh well… Hitting the floor hurts, but the pleasure makes up for it I guess. The soft hair again… So soft… What's this now? His fingers? Oh, I know… Okay, sucking… Sucking. He put them in and it was foreign. Weird. Good. Saw spots and now it's released into his mouth… He's inside now… Moaning continues… Who's? Hearing Sasuke…Now Naruto… Who's Naruto? That's not me…? Yes… No. I don't know anymore… Release was nice for the second time… Someone's saying something… What is it?

"I love you, Sasuke…"

Did I say that…? I'm Naruto… He's Sasuke… I remember now… No way in hell… What's going on?

"AH!" Violently, a blonde teen sat up screaming. His dreams scared him more than they ever had. He thought to himself as he caught his breath.

_Holy shit… Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha. That was two years ago… Why am I having a dream about that asshole?_

The blonde scratched his head then stretched, trying to shake morning sleepiness from him. He glanced over to the clock and realized his weird dream woke him an hour earlier than usual. He contemplated whether he should go back to sleep or just get up and get the day started. After a moment's thought, he decided to go ahead and get out of bed. Still trying to shake the eerie feeling his dream gave him, he decided a shower would do him good.

Removing the covers, he stood and made his way out of his bedroom and down the hall to the bathroom. Once inside the bathroom, he looked at himself in the mirror, admiring how much he'd filled out in 2 years. His dream reminded him of how wimpy he looked as a freshman. Compared to how he looks now, he was a "hunk". His chin had become more defined and strong, his shoulders became slightly wider, his body became slimmer but filled itself with just the right amount of muscle, and it seemed to him that his days of early puberty acne had gone away. He rarely received acne nowadays. Rather, his skin remained soft and basically acne free.

He usually didn't stare at himself in the mirror – he wasn't the type to be self-absorbent – but since he was reminded of how he looked as a freshman, he couldn't help but notice the effect time had given him.

After his brief moment of admiration, Naruto got into the shower and got out 20 minutes later. He dried himself off, got dressed… Where was his belt? He couldn't go to work without his belt. It was the uniform code. Ah, shit.

"Damn Applebee's uniform code…" The blonde muttered to himself as he searched all throughout his mess of a room for a black, leather belt. 30 minute later, he found his belt in the furthest corner, under his bed. The blonde thanked himself again and again for getting up an hour earlier than usual. If it hadn't been for that, he'd have definitely been late.

Now, with his uniform in the right order, it was finally time to leave for work. Naruto made his way out of his apartment, out of the apartment complex, and to his white Ford pickup. He entered the truck, put his key in the ignition, started it up, and then made his way to work.

* * *

As Naruto swung the door open into the restaurant, it stopped short and was followed by high pitch yelp. The blonde quickly looked around to the other side of the door to realize he'd opened the door on his co-worker, Sakura Haruno. Naruto quickly came fully inside and put his hand out to help Sakura up. As she grabbed his hand and pulled herself up, the blonde spoke frantically.

"Oh my God! Sakura, I am… SO sorry! I had no idea anyone… Look I'm…" Naruto chuckled nervously.

Sakura sighed then brushed herself off. The pink-haired girl wore the same uniform as Naruto: black slacks, black long-sleeve button up shirt, – tucked in – and a small black apron with straws, a tablet, and a few pens stuck inside the small pouches it offered. The usual attire of an Applebee's waiter.

"It's fine, Naruto. Just go clock in before you're late!"

With that, they parted ways and the blonde did as she said, making his way to the computer responsible for their clock-ins and outs. As he was clocking in, he was punched in the back of his shoulder. The blonde could guess who that was anywhere, anytime.

Naruto retaliated with a punch to said person's gut, then he dodged another punch. The blonde finally spoke up as he was put into a chokehold.

"…Kiba!"

"Say it!"

"N-No!"

"Dude, say it or be late!"

"…Dammit, I hate you! Uncle!"

Kiba let go of his blonde friend as he laughed. Naruto smacked him on the shoulder, then returned to clocking in. After clocking in, the blonde chuckled, "You're such a douche."

"But I'm _your _douche, Naruto!"

"So what're you trying to say?"

"That I'm your douche!" Kiba chuckled.

"…I hate you."

"Love you more!" Kiba said as he made his way to the front of the restaurant to seat some newly arrived customers.

The blonde went over to a silver rack lined with supplies and grabbed his apron, tablet, and name tag, then equipped them accordingly. After getting completely ready, he went to find Shikamaru, the assistant manager who told him what tables he'd be doing for the day. After he searched and couldn't find him, he grabbed Hinata who just got done waiting a table.

"Hey, Hinata have you seen Shikamaru anywhere?"

"Um… Yeah, he's in the o-office."

Naruto smiled then nodded, "Thanks Hinata!"

She nodded, smiling, as the blonde made his way to the office.

The blonde knocked on the office door to let Shikamaru and whoever else was in there to have Naruto's presence known, then he opened the door and poked his head in. In the office were Shikamaru, as expected, and their manager, Ebisu.

Shikamaru knew what Naruto was there for, so he told Ebisu goodbye and led Naruto out of the office. Once they were out of the office, Shikamaru reached into his back pocket, then pulled out a small tablet. He looked it over as the blonde waited patiently. Finally, after a heavy sigh, Shikamaru spoke.

"Looks like you're on tables 2, 8, 9, 10, and 15."

The blonde nodded then looked to see the tables he was to wait. His eyes stopped dead at table 8. Black hair, black eyes, and the sour I-hate-my-life face. Sasuke Uchiha.

"Shikamaru!" The blonde grabbed Shikamaru by the sleeve before he could walk off then continued.

"Shikamaru! I can't do table 8…"

The assistant manager looked at Naruto, unconvinced. "Why? Are you allergic to it?"

The blonde sighed an almost painful groan, "No! Well, sort of. I mean… Look who's at the table…"

Shikamaru responded almost immediately. "Work, Uzumaki. You don't get paid for a sympathy run."

The blonde groan and wished for something, _anything_, to save him from this. He looked to the other tables he had to wait and there was no one even at those tables. But, he took a deep breath, gathered his confidence, and made his way over to table 8. Somehow, he sensed Kiba was laughing his ass off. He couldn't hear it, but he just knew it was happening.

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**Sasukec: Don't worry, if the second chap isn't up yet, (As of Saturday May 1) it will be up soon. I haven't had the time to write up the second chap (only if it's not up) and it will be up. I will try to get it on at midnight Saturdays. If not, it will be sometime in the later days.**

**Good news, the problem between my friends are clearing up and so my writing will become a little better. Hopefully… Family problems, still there, but don't worry. Do Ut Des is the escape from reality I need :)**


	2. Sex On Fire

**Sasukec: I'm so sorry that this chap didn't get posted last week. Things didn't really go in my favor last week and they really still aren't. Don't worry, life's throwing me curve balls, but I haven't struck out yet.  
****Despite my cheery mood, enjoy.**

* * *

"Ready yet?" The raven-haired teen called out as he "patiently" waited by his car. He waited for a moment for a reply and he was about to ask again, when a blonde-headed girl named Ino ran out the front door of her house. She spoke in a gentle, high voice.

"Now I'm ready Sasuke! You need to be more patient!"

She giggled as she happily walked over to the passenger's side of Sasuke's black Camaro and opened the door. Sasuke beat her inside the car and was already revving the engine by the time she sat down in her seat.

The Uchiha back up then turned his car into the right position, drove forward, and then out into the main street. His hands tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles threatening to remain white from the grip. Ino noticed Sasuke's stiffness and she asked him. "Sasuke…? Are you alright?"

After Sasuke didn't reply for almost a minute, the blonde spoke again.

"You haven't been yourself all day…"

The Uchiha knew he wasn't himself today. Last night was going to be his personal ghost for the rest of his life.

_I can't let Ino know. No one knows about that but me…_

The night before, Ino and Sasuke had had sex for the first time with each other for Ino's birthday. It, Personally, wasn't Sasuke's idea of a birthday gift. He barely wants to look at a calendar on his birthdays. But, Ino insisted and, being the "good" boyfriend he was, allowed her to have her way. He slightly protested, then she pulled the card, "But it's my birthday and I'm finally 18…" which included the puppy dog eyes and pout lip. The Uchiha hated himself for somehow developing a carnivorous conscience because it would've devoured him whole if he said no to her. And, so, off they went.

It began normal, just like every other teenage sexual relationship: one was completely inexperienced while the other had to _act _inexperienced so problems and questions would be avoided. But, in this case, the experienced one, in having sex with the inexperienced one, brought back memories and feeling that were supposed to remain locked away. Forever.

It was last night that brought back the memories of the time Sasuke had sex with Naruto. That one night the idiot came home drunk. The brunette couldn't explain – more of he didn't _want _to know the explanation – why the whole while he was having sex with Ino, the dumbass blonde, Naruto, was on his mind. And for this, his conscience was eating him alive. Quite frankly, he was pissed at himself. So, in order to make himself feel better about the situation _and _give his girlfriend a good time, decided to take her out to Applebee's.

"Sasuke… Please slow down… You're scaring me."

The Uchiha turned to look at Ino and he must have given her a dark look for she seemed to shy away and look straight ahead. She wouldn't make eye contact with him right now. But, it wasn't until a moment later, she was grabbing at the steering wheel and yelling at him.

"Sasuke! Stop!"

The Uchiha was so out of it that he hadn't noticed he was coming up on a red light going over eighty miles per hour. Sasuke slammed on the breaks, coming only centimeters away from entering cross traffic.

After their momentum had stopped their forward pull, it jolted the couple back into their seats. They were both scared out of their minds and breathing heavily as they realized how close they came to death. Ino was the first to speak.

"Sasuke, what were you thinking?"

"I…" The brunette tried to get the lump out of his throat, but he couldn't get it all. The lump wouldn't allow a full sentence but only a two-syllable word.

"Sorry…"

The light had turned green a while after their stop but it once again took Sasuke a moment to realize he could go. He pushed the gas in and continued forward, making sure to watch his speed this time. Ino leaned forward and turned the radio down. She then put her hand on Sasuke's lap and spoke to him in a comforting tone.

"If you don't feel good, we can just cancel and go another time."

She waited rigidly for a response from him. Sasuke let a smile onto his face, "No, it's alright. I've… Just got a lot on my mind. It's nothing to worry about."

"Was it…"

Ino hesitated, afraid of what the brunette would say. She sighed, "Was it last night?"

The Uchiha quickly spoke, "No, it was nothing that had to do with last night. Everything's fine. I promise."

Sasuke's words were almost just a mesh of babble and hurried words. They would have been completely inaudible if the radio were still turned up and if the Camaro's engine were any louder. The blonde-headed girl realized that she shouldn't try to press the subject any more at this moment.

They spent the rest of the car ride in silence, one another unable to think of what to say.

_Just leave it alone… You're being a girl, thinking about this too much. For Christ's sake, you almost killed us. Just focus on here and now._

It seemed that moments later, he was turning into the Applebee's parking lot, seconds later they were inside being seated, and now, waiting for a waiter to take their order.

_Maybe today will go by fast now. It's going all right so far…_

However, irony loved to play its parts, and play its parts it shall.

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**Sasukec: That's chap 2 for ya! Hope you enjoyed Sasuke's little internal conflicts. Great for a story, eh? Chap 3 is up!**


	3. Bon Apetit

**Sasukec: Here's chap 3! Enjoy peoples.**

* * *

The blonde approached table 8, wanting to run home and crawl under the covers for the rest of the day. If he'd known Sasuke was going to be there, he'd have called in sick. The table was becoming closer with each step.

Maybe he won't recognize me…

He looked down and remembered he had a nametag.

_Great. That's great. What other Narutos are there? Er… None._

Once he got to the table with Sasuke and… Ino? The blonde was so tied up in keeping his cool that he hadn't noticed that Sasuke wasn't alone. They both looked as tense as he felt. The blonde wondered why Sasuke was with Ino. It didn't make sense to him.

_Why the hell is Sasuke with Ino?_

Naruto didn't have time to ponder why he would be with Ino – let alone a girl – because he was less than a few feet away from their table and had to say his usual greetings.

"Hello, my name's Naruto and I'll be your waiter for today," he handed them two menus and tried to deepen his voice to make it unrecognizable. Obviously, for Ino, it didn't work.

"Naruto! Hey, it's Ino! How've you been?"

The blonde wanted to crawl into a corner and die because of Sasuke's glare at that moment.

_My God… I haven't felt this depressed since I was 8 when I found out Superman dies later on in the series… I should say something…_

It took the blonde a few seconds to reply and keep a steady voice, "Uh… Yeah, I'm great. Just let me know when you're ready to order and I'll… Uh…" He brought his words to a slow crawl as he walked away from Sasuke's death glare. "Get those… Drinks."

Ino just smiled, happy as can be, not even realizing she forgot to tell him what drinks they wanted. The blonde hurried away then noticed that he forgot to take their drink orders. He guessed on what they would like and hoped that he'd be, in some odds, right.

The brunette huffed a grunt after Naruto walked off – more or less ran off. Ino noticed Sasuke's mood hadn't improved, only gotten worse. She put her hand on his arm and tried to once again gain insight into what he was thinking.

"Is it Naruto…?"

Sasuke acted as though he hadn't heard her and continued drilling holes into Naruto's back until he was no longer visible.

Moments later, he returned with a couple of drinks that the blonde guessed was what they would have ordered. He quickly set the drinks down in front of the couple, then pulled out a tablet and pen to take their order.

"Are you two ready to place your order?"

Naruto swallowed hard, impatiently waiting for them to say something. Although the blonde had his eyes focused on the tablet, he could feel daggers being stabbed through him by Sasuke's death glare. Naruto cleared his throat to maybe give a hint to Ino that he was painfully waiting. Luckily, the blonde-headed girl nodded then placed both their orders. Naruto thanked her as she handed back the menus, then said before walking off, "Your order will be out as soon as we can get it out."

* * *

15 minutes later, Naruto was bringing out their plates of food on a giant black tray to their table. The blonde usually had no trouble carrying the tray, but Sasuke's glare caught him off balance more than just a few times today. Naruto still wondered why the Uchiha had such a problem with him. With his focus lost, Naruto had let his hand lose its level of balance, and… There went the tray… All over Sasuke and Ino. The bad news: it was mainly on Sasuke, rather than Ino. Basically everyone within the restaurant turned their heads to view what had happened as the plates crashed onto the floor; the whole restaurant silent save for the TVs and music on the intercom.

Naruto froze, not knowing what to do – this wasn't in the training. Ino had a small yelp escape her lips while Sasuke sat motionless with pasta all throughout his hair. Naruto knew he should say something, it would make things worse if he didn't.

"Oh…My God… I'm so sorry." The blonde started to try and clean things up when Ino spoke gently, "It's alright Naruto. Accidents hap-"

The clattering of Sasuke's chair to the floor interrupted her sentence. The Uchiha was fuming mad, and it was _not _okay by Sasuke's standards. This was the straw that broke the camel's back for Sasuke. He obviously didn't want to remain any longer. And so, Sasuke stormed out after one last death glance toward Naruto, with Ino trailing behind him.

Ino looked back at Naruto before exiting with an almost apologetic look in her eyes. One voice turned into two, three, four… The customers began to return to their lives as Naruto just stood there.

_I am so dead…_

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**Sasukec: Hope you guys enjoyed! Reviews are welcome and chaps 4 and 5 (maybe 6) will be up next Saturday (May 15). Till then, my readers!**


	4. So, You Had A Bad Day

**Sasukec: I am SO very sorry this wasn't posted last week! I've been a little sidetracked lately, but I'm trying to keep my focus on this sequel. I'm also very sorry this got posted a little later than usual, but I'm trying my best. Wish me luck and enjoy!**

* * *

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?"

Naruto thought he'd never heard the end of it from Ebisu. The blonde had never believed a man could blow up from anger… Until he met Ebisu. Naruto's boss had a small fuse already, but Naruto's little mistake tonight made it even shorter and doused with gasoline. Actually seeing the mess lit the fuse… Boom.

Naruto was really tired of hearing his boss's rant. He just wanted him to decide something, and quick. He felt like the wooden seat he was sitting on was beginning to become a permanent part of his ass.

_The upside is, if I don't get fired, I'm currently getting paid to sit on my ass. _

The blonde cursed his small attention span as he realized that Ebisu had said something to Naruto that he was obviously supposed to reply to. Although Ebisu may have been talking in a civil manner, anyone could see he was still fumed. The blonde tried to talk but all that came out was a brilliant, "Uh…"

Ebisu paused for a moment then slammed his hand down on his desk, "You're FIRED Uzumaki! Get OUT of my RESTAURANT!"

Naruto looked and felt like a deer in headlights as Ebisu screamed those two first words. He couldn't believe what he said, nor did he understand and his face clearly showed it. Ebisu repeated the words slowly, but diligently, "You're. Fired. Get. Out!"

Naruto stood up, took off his nametag and apron, then set them on Ebisu's desk before walking out of the office. He muttered curses under his breath as he made his way to the exit.

When Naruto walked by table 8, he could see Sakura and Kiba both cleaning up the mess Naruto had caused. Both Sakura and Kiba looked up as he passed. Sakura gave Naruto the look of, "Sorry you got fired, good luck in life anyway." and Kiba looked as though he were about to explode laughing. However, Naruto was in _no _laughing mood. The look in the blonde's eyes seemed to shut Kiba up even before he chuckled.

As he made his way out of the restaurant doors, he reached into each of his pockets for his keys, only to find them in the last pocket he looked. After finding his keys, he walked over to his truck, unlocked it, and entered the car. Once inside the car, he heard a small clap of thunder, then it began to rain. He felt somewhat happy that he'd gotten into his car before the rain started. He hated being caught in the rain.

The blonde stuck his keys in the ignition, turning it only to hear his truck roar to life before sputtering and dying. His "check engine" light suddenly lit up and the hood of his car began to steam.

"Ah, shit! No, no!"

Naruto jumped out of his car, closing the door behind him, and ran to the hood of the truck, fanning away the smoke for a few moments. After the truck seemed to stop steaming, Naruto realized he'd forgotten to pop the hood up. The button for this was back inside the truck. He silently cursed, making his way back to the door.

_Gotta do this quick. I'm starting to get soaked…_

The blonde grabbed the door handle and pulled the door… Why wasn't the door moving? He tried again. It remained closed. Naruto peered inside only to realize he'd left his keys in the ignition and the truck was locked.

_Dammit! I must have accidentally locked the doors as I was getting out. For the love of Christ…_

Naruto checked his pockets for his phone to call a tow truck. When there was no Naruto's phone to be found, he remembered his phone was in the glove box of his truck. Applebee's policy: no cellular device on an employee's person at any one time…

"God dammit!"

The blonde punched his car door then turned around to lean on the side of it. It was official. Today marked the beginning of a suck ass day. As if being fired wasn't enough. It seemed that even Naruto's _truck _was out to get him.

_I swear if today gets any worse, I'm gonna go home and never come back out… I guess I'm walking home._

Naruto crossed his arms across his chest as he walked home, getting soaked all along the way. About halfway through his walk, a car drove a little too close and splashed a puddle of rain water all over him. The blonde smiled, chuckling slightly, then held his hand up as if he were doing an appreciation gesture, "Thanks! I needed that to wash off all this fresh rainwater! _Douche bag…_"

He just had a gut feeling that _that _was totally on purpose.

Once Naruto was at his apartment door, he, out of habit, checked his pockets for his keys. He stopped, feeling like an idiot, leaned his back against the door, and then slid down into a sitting position. The blonde held his face in his hands and couldn't believe how much shit this day was throwing at him.

No phone. No car. No job. No keys. All soaked… Naruto almost started expecting Ashton Kutcher to show up. He'd have a good laugh. It was funny how all of this could happen in one day, within one hour. Naruto looked up from his hands.

_What can I do? I've got no one to call, my car has gone to shit, and my apartment **key **is locked away… _

Naruto realized the rain was beginning to let up, until it almost suddenly stopped. Then, an idea hit; _maybe Karin will help me out. I really don't want to go see her… But, she's all the hope I've got. _

Naruto stood then made his way out of the apartment complex and toward Karin's place a few blocks away.

* * *

**Sasukec: Once again, I apologize for not updating last week. I promise, I'll try to get these done faster! School's almost out, so I'll have MUCH more time to focus on this. I promise, I won't leave this one to die! **

**Check out chap 5, it's up…**


	5. Sexified On Holister

**Sasukec: Chapter 5 my readers. It's a LOT longer than usual to make up for my retarded delays. Enjoy!**

* * *

The rain didn't stop for long. Naruto was about halfway to Karin's when the rain decided to pick up again – this time it was harder. Naruto didn't care anymore; he was already soaked. The blonde just hoped he wouldn't get sick from the rain. It'd be a miracle if he didn't at least get a cold. But, even with a possibility of being sick, he still made his way to Karin's. He didn't know what else to do.

Naruto didn't really want to go to Karin's. Not after what had happened just recently. Somehow Karin had gotten the wrong assumption that the blonde was starting to like Hinata after hanging out with her once. _Once._ Naruto felt like he was attacked after he came home from hanging out with Hinata. She said he was cheating and that Naruto was always "all over her". Naruto was utterly confused by these assumptions and thought that Karin just wanted something to go wrong. It was the first, and last, fight they'd ever been in.

Naruto explained over and over how Hinata was with his friend, Kiba but that wasn't the brightest of things to say to an already fumed woman. Karin wasted no time, telling Kiba about what she _thought _was happening between Naruto and Kiba's girlfriend. To Naruto's surprise, Kiba actually believed her.

That brought shit into Naruto and Kiba's friendship that they – "they" being Kiba – still have doubts about. Poor Hinata, being in the middle of it all, decided to take a stand for herself and just left Kiba to be single again. Through all that happened, everyone saw that the Hyuga broke out of her shell a bit. As for Naruto… He was on the same level that Kiba was. Ditched, alone, and confused.

The blonde threw those thoughts out of his head. It was about four months ago since that happened, so he thought time would have done its job on Karin. If not, he'd be quite literally fucked.

_Finally…_ Naruto thought to himself as he saw Karin's house around the corner. _Hope for the best…_

The blonde went up to the door and raised his hand to knock, but hesitated. Instead, he lowered his hand to ring the doorbell. As he waited for an answer, he tried to brush himself off of all the rainwater before shaking his hair out slightly. He shivered, then rang the doorbell again.

_Good things come to those who… Ah, fuck that just get here Karin. I'm freezing!_

Finally answering Naruto's prayers, redheaded Karin opened the door. She slid her glasses up onto her face more before narrowing her eyes on him. She snorted, then began to shut the door.

"Wait! Karin!"

Naruto caught the door with his hand before she shut it in his face. She sighed, annoyance radiating within the sigh, then reopened the door. She spoke sharply, "What do you want, Naruto? And why are you here?"

The blonde replied quickly, hoping her patience wouldn't wear out before he even had a chance to explain himself.

"Karin, I know you really don't want to see me… And I'm not really here by will or choice. But, I need your help."

She smiled bemusedly.

"Help? You want my help?"

"Yes, please. Look, I need to come in so I ca-"

"Sorry," She cut him off with a harsh tone lined with acid. "I don't help liars."

She slammed the door on his face before he could even get another word out. Naruto stood there for a moment before turning around and putting one of his hands on the porch wall for support and the other, he ran through he now slightly damp hair. He landed his hand on the back of his neck, sighing defeat.

_Seriously… I am SO over today._

He removed his hand from the back of his neck, then used his other hand to hit the wall with the side of his fist. "Dammit!"

What the hell am I supposed to do now? For starters, I guess I can't really stay here…

The blonde then began his walk to… Well, that was currently under debate.

* * *

"Ah, I love the rain! It's so peaceful."

The roar of a Hummer engine accompanied that of the musings of a deep voice. The voice, and Hummer, belonged to Itachi Uchiha.

"Wait…"

The Uchiha was driving home from work in his red Hummer when the rain began to pick up outside. It'd been raining all day and Itachi was in no complaining mood. He loved the rain in any form and would make any excuse to be out in it. So, he decided he'd drive around town for a while before heading back to his place. But, as he was driving, he passed someone walking on the side of the road.

Itachi turned into the nearest parking lot, then turned around to go pick up the person.

_I swear that was him…_

As Itachi's Hummer came alongside the person, he opened his passenger side door to reveal a blonde teen, soaked and seemed like he was looking for a noose.

_It IS Naruto!_

Naruto just stopped and looked at the open door like that was the first time he'd ever seen a car. Itachi spoke up past the Hummer's engine and rain.

"Naruto! It's me, Itachi! You need a ride?"

The blonde looked at Itachi, seeming like he was contemplating something before nodding.

"Yeah."

Naruto reluctantly got into the Hummer and as he closed the door, Itachi began driving again. It wasn't long until Itachi started their conversation at a red light.

"Where do you need to go? And why are you out here in the rain?"

Naruto sighed, then explained his entire day and how he had no idea what to do now. Itachi listened quietly and when Naruto was all done, Itachi came up with an idea.

"I know what you could do. You can come back to my place and call someone to get your truck unlocked and I'll let you borrow some of my clothes for the time being."

The blonde almost painfully replied, "Sounds great, thanks Itachi."

* * *

After Itachi cut the Hummer's engine, both Naruto and Itachi exited his car and made their way into the Uchiha's apartment complex. They shared an almost awkward silence on the way up to Itachi's apartment room. The blonde was slightly thankful Itachi wasn't saying anything.

_I would NOT choose to go with him under normal circumstances but… Well, let's face it, these are NOT normal circumstances. I never once thought Itachi would save me._

Finally arriving at Itachi's door, the Uchiha took the keys out of his pocket and unlocked door number 207. Itachi entered the apartment first and held the door open for Naruto as he walked in. The blonde didn't expect this to be his apartment at all. The apartment was dark, even when Itachi flicked the lights on, and messy. It wasn't what Naruto would expect out of an Uchiha at all. Not that he cared much, it was just a side note Naruto took; that Uchihas aren't always so stuck up about everything. At least, Itachi wasn't.

Another thing Naruto took notice of, was that the apartment was small. Smaller than even his own. Hello, suprise. Going from Itachi's Hummer to this apartment would make anyone think that this place was just a storage room for him. Itachi's Hummer made him look loaded, but his apartment… Anyone could get the picture.

The Uchiha cleared his throat, breaking the silence before speaking.

"So… Um, I'll let you borrow some of my clothes. Those don't look very comfortable to be in."

_No shit Sherlock…_

Naruto was still in his work clothes and they were still soaked, almost dripping wet. Itachi waited for a reply.

"Sure, that'd be great."

"Alright, follow me."

Itachi indicated with a nod of his head down the hallway that was straight across from them. The blonde did as he was told, and followed him into his bedroom that had the same slightly dark mood to it as the rest of the apartment seemed to have. Naruto waited for Itachi as he rummaged through his closet, then his drawer, then into his bedroom bathroom. He came out with clothes and a towel, and handed them to the blonde.

"Here, just hand me your wet clothes when you're done and I'll set them in the dryer."

"Thanks… I really appreciate it Itachi."

Itachi nodded slightly then smiled and walked out, closing his bedroom door behind him. Naruto went over to the door and locked it before laying the clothes Itachi grabbed for him on the bed. He looked them over: a light blue striped, long-sleeved button-up polo, light brown khakis, a black belt, a wife beater, and black boxers.

_What the hell? Is he trying to primp me up?_

He picked the black boxers up and held them out at arms' length. He sighed then began to get undressed.

_I guess I have really no choice. It was nice of him to let me borrow his clothes, but this is kind of insane…_

After getting fully undressed, he used the towel Itachi provided him with to dry himself off, then he dried his hair off. He put all the clothes on now, then looked at himself in the full body mirror in Itachi's bedroom.

_Hhm… Not bad._

He looked himself over and deemed himself sexy. He felt it was official.

_Hollister __**does **__make you look sexy. _

Pleased, the blonde gathered his wet clothes, careful not to get himself wet again, and went out into the living room to find Itachi on the phone.

"Alright, thanks. Bye."

Itachi hung up then went over to Naruto and took the clothes from him and went into another room and started the dryer up. He yelled from the other room, "They fit alright?"

"Uh… Yeah, yeah. They fit just fine. Um- who was it you were on the phone with?"

"I took the liberty of calling someone to take care of your truck for you. He'll take it to his shop, check it out, and fix it for free."

The blonde was amazed at just how much Itachi was doing for him.

"Wow! I don't know what to say… I guess I should be saying thanks."

Itachi came out from the laundry room, then nodded smiling. "It's no problem at all. We've got about an hour or so to waste while we wait for your clothes. You can watch some TV if you want, or we could play my 360."

The blonde thought for a moment, then decided, "TV sounds alright."

Itachi nodded, then grabbed the remote from the nearby table and handed it to Naruto. Naruto thanked him, then sat on Itachi's three-seat couch before turning the slightly small TV on. The blonde turned it to a random station and just stuck with it.

30 minutes into the TV watching, Naruto noticed Itachi was closer than what he was 30 minutes ago.

_Not this again… Dammit, I knew he was just trying to make me look sexy! _

"So, Naruto…"

_If he's trying to break the ice, he's doing an absolutely TERRIBLE job of it. _

"You and Sasuke ever talk?"

_See? Terrible._

"No, we haven't talked since… We were last together in Miss Shizune's apartment… What about you?"

"Yeah, we talk occasionally, but not that much."

_I'm amazed he didn't ask me about the weather. A-maz-ing._

"So…" Itachi continued, "I'm guessing you two still aren't on good terms?"

The blonde shook his head and thought about telling him what happened today. Naruto had told him that he'd gotten fired, just not _why _he'd gotten fired. For this, the blonde wanted to leave it at a "don't ask, don't tell" kind of thing. It was always for the better.

"Sorry about that…"

Itachi seemed to give up after that, realizing that Naruto didn't want to continue. The next 30 minutes seemed to go by quick, much to Naruto's pleasure. As the timer went off on the dryer, Itachi went and got the clothes out and folded them accordingly. Naruto got up and the Uchiha handed him his work clothes.

The blonde began to walk back to Itachi's bedroom.

"I'll go change back into these so you can-"

"No, no it's fine. We need to get going. The tow truck will be there soon so you can just have the clothes."

Naruto stopped then nodded. "Alright, you sure?"

"Yeah, completely. It's fine."

Itachi smiled as he opened the door and waited for Naruto to go first so he could lock the door behind them.

_I think he likes these on me a bit too much…_Insert mental groan here.

* * *

The rain had finally let up once Itachi and Naruto pulled into the Applebee's parking lot. And it was already getting dark.

_Did I seriously just spend my entire day walking around in the rain? Come on, someone make a joke. I'm still ready to bust up laughing._

They both exited the car and saw that the tow truck had just pulled up. A longhaired teen – he looked to be about the same age as Itachi – with the usual maintenance uniform with his name on it stepped out of the truck and came over to inspect the truck. After he looked at it for a moment, he waved to Itachi.

"Hey, Itachi. It's good to see you again."

Itachi walked over to the man and shook his hand, smiling.

"You too Neji. Thanks so much for this, I'll repay you somehow."

"Nah, no need. I owe you one anyway."

Neji... Neji Hyuga, the blonde was guessing.

_So this is Hinata's cousin. He works with this kind of stuff? Huh… Never would've guessed. Weird._

"Is there any way you can get the door unlocked? My keys are kinda stuck in there along with my phone…" The blonde reminded Neji.

"Yeah, I'll be able to get it."

Neji walked back to his truck then came back with a silver rod that resembled a key. He stuck the key-like rod in the keyhole and jerked it around for a few minutes. The blonde watched him and was sure that nothing was going to happen. But, then a loud click was heard and Neji opened the door.

"There we go. Go ahead and get your keys and phone and I'll get it hooked up. Then I'll get it out of here."

Truly grateful, the blonde thanked him and entered his car to grab his keys out of the ignition, then his phone in the glove box.

"Thanks so much." Itachi thanked him that time as Neji began hooking Naruto's truck up.

"It's nothing." Neji replied as he finished setting the wires up around the front of the blonde's truck. After he set up the last wire securing, Neji reached into his back pocket, and pulled out of small white business card, handing it to Naruto.

"Come by tomorrow afternoon. We'll give you your car's status."

The blonde nodded and thanked him again. Itachi and Naruto got back into the Hummer just as Neji did into his truck, and they both drove off.

* * *

Itachi pulled into Naruto's apartment complex parking lot, and put the Hummer into park.

"Thanks again Itachi, I'd have been really screwed if you hadn't come along."

"Don't worry about it Naruto. I was glad to help."

As the blonde was grabbing his clothes, he was scared half to death as Itachi jumped onto him, kissing at his lips and pinning him between the window and his own body. Naruto struggled and reached for the door handle, trying to get out. Naruto got a hold of the handle and pulled, but he realized that Itachi had discreetly locked the doors and disabled control of the locks on all doors except the driver's.

He yelled, protesting as Itachi slithered his hand into the blonde's pants.

"Itachi! Get the fuck off of me!"

"Shhh…"

Itachi's hush was almost creepy. His hand massaged his member that was threatening to become erect from the very way Itachi touched and caressed it. Naruto tried to stop it from becoming erect, but it wouldn't listen. Neither would his vocal chords as they released a soft moan.

"Yeah, you like that…"

Naruto's struggling became less because of the pleasure and because of the amount of time he'd been strenuously struggling. But, nonetheless, his struggling continued.

_Holy fuck, it feels so good… But, it's got to stop! This isn't right!_

Naruto tried to push Itachi off of him, but like two years ago, he was bigger and stronger than Naruto. This time, the blonde seriously considered getting a gym membership.

"Now for the best part…"

Itachi's smile was sure to haunt the blonde's dreams from now on and forever. The Uchiha unbuttoned the light brown khakis and pulled them down, along with the boxers, just enough to put his mouth around Naruto's erection. Itachi sucked hard, wanting to get as much out of this as possible. Somehow, despite how terrified and violated Naruto felt, he still couldn't get out of Itachi's firm hold. The blonde began punching him on the head until the Uchiha bit down hard on Naruto's cock that would most likely leave a mark.

The blonde screamed loudly as pain was sent through him and he stopped struggling all together.

"Sit. Still."

Itachi's words were like acid arrows that froze Naruto. Pleased, Itachi continued to suck hard. Moans escaped the blonde's mouth again and again before he finally came and Itachi swallowed all of Naruto's seed. Acting as if nothing had happened, Itachi gently pulled his boxers and pants back up for him and zipped and buttoned his khakis back up for him. He smiled, handed him his clothes he dropped, and unlocked the doors.

"One more thing, Uzumaki… Tell anyone, and you're dead. Bye Naruto."

The blonde jumped out of the Hummer and fell to the ground, but quickly got up and ran into his apartment complex. He could feel Itachi's grin on his back the entire way and not once did he dare look back.

* * *

**Sasukec: Well, I know you may be thinking, "random rape"? But it will come into the story later on**, **I promise you that. I hope you enjoyed this update and I, once again, apologize for not having this up sooner! **

**Myself, being a procrastinator, hate doing things on a timely basis and not on my own schedule. But, for this, I will try to fulfill my quota! :)**

**Stay tuned and the next one may come as a surprise… ;)**


	6. Irony Much?

**Sasukec: I know that once again, I'm a little behind and I have absolutely NO excuse this time because school is finally out. I've just been a little lazy and working on a little web show with my besty :)**

**Well, enjoy despite my idiotic delays :D**

**

* * *

**

"Yo! Sasuke!"

It was almost impossible to hear anything past the drills and engines being tested. However, after working at Cargo's Workshop for a year, you kind of got used to it. At least Sasuke was. He heard his name called and stopped his welding for a moment to see who called for him. He lifted his face mask up, revealing his usually perfect, pale skin to be covered in sweat and grease. He replied past a shrill engine drill.

"What?"

The response came back harsh and quick, "Get your ass OVER here Uchiha!"

Sasuke groaned and once again mentally noted that he hated his life. He finally realized that it was Asuma, his manager, as he got up and walked over to him. Once he was standing next to Asuma, whom was currently working under a truck, he yelled again, "What?"

Asuma slid out from the white truck, threw a red rag at Sasuke, then took a drag on his cigarette. The Uchiha caught the rag as Asuma exhaled a puff of smoke before speaking, "Clean up, little missy. We've got someone waiting up front!"

Sasuke groaned, but knew he had no choice in the matter. He wiped his face and hands as he made his way through a short hallway where the drills became less obnoxious, but obnoxious nonetheless. The Uchiha stuck the now greased up rag in the back pocket of his jeans before entering the reception area of Cargo's Workshop.

Sasuke shivered upon entering the reception area. He remembered that the reception area was always so much colder than the garage and he'd just walked into a blizzard. It didn't help that he was wearing his black wife beater. But, if Sasuke complained at all Asuma would say, "Shut the hell up, you whiner!" or, "I'm sorry, princess! Let me fix that for you. Want me to fluff your pillows while I'm at it?". Even now, Asuma would take no pity on the brunette.

Standing before Sasuke was someone he would rather _NOT _see. He'd much rather jump off a cliff. At least he'd most likely black-out before hitting the rocks at the bottom. But, instead he was stuck with servicing the idiotic blonde who looked at Sasuke and immediately acted liked a whipped dog. That was a little encouraging, but not enough. The Uchiha was basically in the same place as Naruto was the day before, except Sasuke was in no way intimidated by Naruto. He was only annoyed.

"Can I help you?" Sasuke tried to be polite.

"Y-Yeah, I was told to come here and ask about my car."

"Well, what's your car?"

"It's uh..." Naruto tried his best to never make eye contact and instead eyed a poster about how to check your oil. "It's a white Ford Pickup... 98."

Sasuke remembered now that Asuma had told him about someone coming by for that truck he was working on.

"Your fan belt was worn out and it's being replaced in the shop right now. I'll go check out the status, wait here."

Sasuke walked back into the garage and found Asuma taking a break by a table littered with many various tools. The brunette spoke over another shrill engine drill, "Naruto's here about his Ford Pickup. What's the status?"

Asuma blew out a puff of smoke, then replied, "It's finished and taken care of. Here!"

The middle-aged man threw a key at Sasuke, then put his cigarette out. The Uchiha caught the key, then made his way to the white truck only a few feet away. He entered the truck, started it up, then backed it out of the garage. He drove it around to the front of Cargo's Workshop and put it in park before cutting the engine and exiting the truck. He walked around the truck and made his way back inside the reception area where he walked past a slightly confused blonde.

Once Sasuke was behind the reception desk, he began writing down a record of the truck, its model, date, etc. Naruto seemed as though he was going to remain quiet, until he cleared his throat.

"Sorry about yesterday, Sasuke..."

The Uchiha paused for a brief moment, then grunted. Sasuke didn't mean the grunt to be an acceptance of an apology nor a rejection, he just let the blonde take it as he would. Naruto obviously got that intention. Naruto spoke again with a little uplift in his tone, "I never would've thought you'd work here."

_If he's trying to force his way into good terms with me, he's doing an absolutely shitty job of it. _Sasuke thought to himself as he continued to write the record down.

"Look, Sasuke... I feel bad about how we left things off."

Why did the record have to be so damn long? Naruto waited for a moment for any kind of reply from Sasuke. After none came and the Uchiha kept his eyes bore into the record, Naruto tried again.

"I thought we were at least friends?"

As if Sasuke's prayers had been answered, he finished filling out the record. He slammed a copy of the record and his key on the reception desk in front of Naruto, making the blonde jump a bit. Sasuke's scowl only deepened as he replied harshly, "Thanks for coming to Cargo's Workshop, Uzumaki. But I'm not interested in reminiscing about our past. Now leave."

As Sasuke walked back down the hallway that led into the garage, Naruto stood there in front of the reception desk, a dagger pierced through his hopes. After Sasuke was completely out of view, Naruto grabbed the record and his key, then shoved the piece of paper into his pocket as he stormed out. The blonde entered his truck, then almost violently shoved his key in the ignition. But, instead of starting the car up, he just sat without moving for what seemed like hours.

_Why am I so pissed? Or am I pissed? Dammit, I should know by now that if I try to do anything around that asshole, I'm a complete emotional wreck. What is up with Uchihas and doing this to people? _

He put both his hands on the steering wheel and his grip tightened. He finally moved to look out his driver's window. The sky was starting to turn a light pink.

_I should leave... I'm either having the biggest urge to go in there and confront Sasuke again, or just beat the shit out of him. _

As if on queue, Sasuke walked out the front door of Cargo's. The blonde saw him just as he walked out and continued to watch him as he made his way over to a black Camaro and entered it. Naruto was slightly amazed that the Uchiha didn't notice him. Oh wait, Naruto wasn't amazed at all how the Uchiha ignored him. Sasuke's engine revved as he left the parking lot.

_Douche... _

The blonde finally started his own car, then left the parking lot more confused than ever in his teen years.

* * *

**Sasukec: Yes, I know, shame, shame on Sasukec... She has been a VERY bad updater! :(**

**I am SO sorry for the drop off on my previous update. But, I promise, I'll make it up to you with a good amount of chapters. These next chapters – chapters 6 through 10, at the _VERY LEAST_ – will be posted throughout the rest of this week.**

**Also, if you are a reader of this story, please review telling me you read this. If you don't have an account here, no worries, just let me know if you are a regular reader. You do not have to do a full review, just tell me you read and that's good enough.**

**But, a good review never hurts either, it only encourages me and gets me excited for making more chapters. Please, please let me know! If you don't feel comfortable reviewing (I know you're out there ;)), just PM me. **

**Thanks guys, I love you all! :D (Especially my baby girl, Lindsey. Thanks for the awesome encouragement and enthusiasm! ;))**


	7. A Trip To Italy?

**Sasukec: As promised, more sasunaru on the way for the rest of this week :)**

**Enjoy chapter 7!****  
**

* * *

"Please come see me, Mr. Uzumaki."

The blonde's head shot up with a line of drool still residing on his chin.

"One point seven, seven, two, zero, zero, four-!"

"I did NOT ask for the square root of pi, Naruto! I asked you to please come and see me." Half of the class snickered at Naruto's mistake.

Naruto still slightly confused, nodded and walked up to Mr. Umino. After the blonde yawned lightly he waited for Mr. Umino to speak.

Mr. Umino looked the same as he did two years ago when he first met Naruto. He was the police officer that had questioned the blonde and Hinata after those events with Orochimaru. Naruto still shudders and feels a burning sensation in his stomach every time he thinks of that snake-like man. It was the kind of memory that could still hurt him today. And not just emotionally. Those kinds of memories really just suck. But, as for Iruka's story, he must have decided to quit the police force and start a career as a history teacher. Naruto couldn't imagine why, but here he was, being the blonde's Foreign Country Histories teacher. Oh such a bond they shared…

After a moment of Naruto staring blankly at his history teacher, (man, did that bed at home sound awesome…) Mr. Umino finally cleared his throat then handed Naruto a yellow piece of paper. Naruto looked it over; it was a signature form for a school trip to Italy. It read:

'Ever wanted to see Italy, but never had the time to get away from your own school schedule? Or do you just want to see the many beauties of Rome for its own sake? Now you can with Konoha's Annual School Trip to Rome, Italy! Not only will this field trip be full of adventure, it will be filled with knowledge of ancient Roman times, architecture, and law! Don't miss out on this once in a lifetime-'

The blonde stopped reading so he wouldn't blow his brains out. He looked up from the yellow paper and raised an eyebrow at his teacher.

"Um… Why'd you give me this, Mr. Umino?"

"I thought that maybe since you are failing my class that you do not want to be in here again anymore than you have to… Am I correct?"

The blonde still didn't know where his teacher was going with this.

"Uh, yeah sure."

"I will offer you extra credit – enough to pass my class – if you go on that trip-"

"No way!"

"Let me finish, Mr. Uzumaki!"

Naruto kept quiet after the look Mr. Umino had just given him.

"As I was saying… If you go on this trip you will get the extra credit you need. But, that alone is not quite enough. I want you to journal each and every day you spend in Rome. What you have learned, what you have done, what you have seen, and the places you have been. I, myself, will even be paying the funds needed for this trip.

"I hope you will take this into much consideration? I do not normally offer this to many students."

Naruto looked at Mr. Umino for a moment, then back down to the paper as he was then locked in thought.

_If I go on this trip, I'll have to document everything down… But I'll be able to get extra credit… And I'll pass! Plus, I'll leave this town and not even be remotely close to that creep, Itachi. It's a two birds, one stone thing… _

'Don't miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity to see Rome! The plane takes off on November 13 and we will all return home on November 20. An entire week of the sights of Rome!'

It still felt cheesy to the blonde, but it seemed perfect to him at the same time. He felt like this really was a once in a lifetime chance. And, maybe, just maybe, Itachi would forget all about the blonde while he was gone.

"I'll do it."

Mr. Umino smiled as he handed the blonde a pen and he signed the paper. After Naruto finished signing the paper, he handed the paper back to his teacher.

"I think you've made a very good choice here, Mr. Uzumaki. We will all meet at the airport at 8 AM. Our plane leaves at 9. Is that understood?"

The blonde nodded as Mr. Umino handed him a piece of paper that he had jot down the information Naruto would need to have. After receiving the information, Naruto went back to his seat, possibly actually excited for this trip.

* * *

_What the…?_

A yellow piece of paper was spotted by coal black eyes on a desk. _His _desk. Sasuke sat down on his desk then picked the paper up.

_A trip to Italy? Who the hell left this here? _

Sasuke read it over, ignoring the multitude of voices around him. Then, an idea struck the Uchiha like no other. Go to Italy, get away from this town, get away from Naruto. A week away from school, his job, stress, his ex, and any other things that were failed to mention.

_I'm not usually the type to want to go on these stupid school things… But it's a chance to get away from this goddamn town. _

The brunette folded the paper until it was small enough to fit into his back pocket. The moment he stuck it in his pocket, the bell rang and his class started. For once, the Uchiha felt a slight smile tugging at his lips.

_A trip to Italy? Thanks whoever left it here. _

* * *

**Sasukec: Gotta love that irony, eh? :D**

**I know you're all tired of my excuses, so I won't use any. I'm such a bad person! D: But I know you'll keep reading anyway ;)**


	8. Jetlag

**Sasukec: I worked my ass off in this one! I kind of hated myself for making so many things happen in one setting, but I think it's a pretty good effect and well… I won't spoil anything for anyone ;)**

**Hope you enjoy the COMPLETED and ANTICIPATED chapter 8! :D Jetlag sucks ;)**

* * *

8 AM. Right on the clock. Sasuke Uchiha checked his watch again and another minute flew by. He expected their chaperones to at least be here by now. Mr. Umino and Ms. Anko were nowhere in sight. All the brunette could see were business people and travelers alike passing by in a hurry. The Uchiha shivered a bit.

_Damn morning air. It's cold, I'm tired, and I just want to get on with this. _

Sasuke crossed his arms as he waited another five minutes before spotting both of the chaperones approaching from the parking lot.

About damn time…

Once Ms. Anko saw Sasuke, she smiled and said, "Well you're certainly on time, aren't you Sasuke?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Sorry we're late," Mr. Umino said frantically. "Traffic got backed up and we were barely able to get out of it."

"It's fine."

Ms. Anko suggested they wait inside and Mr. Umino agreed, telling them he'd wait outside to greet the other students coming on the trip. Sasuke felt slightly better once they were inside. The heater made him feel less… Grouchy. Ms. Anko then suggested they wait on a line of chairs nearby.

After they sat, Sasuke asked, "How many are going on this trip, Ms. Anko?"

Ms. Anko thought for a moment before happily replying, "About 10 different students including yourself."

"Are we getting our own rooms?"

Ms. Anko shook her head, "Sorry, Sasuke. You're going to be paired up with someone and you'll share a room. I don't know who you'll be paired with, Mr. Umino has the list. But he'll be sure to let you and everyone else know before we get on the plane."

Sasuke let a small smile make its way onto his face, "Thanks, Ms. Anko."

"Anytime Sasuke."

Sasuke was glad he was waiting with Ms. Anko rather than Mr. Umino. He'd feel so much more awkward with Mr. Umino. For one, Ms. Anko was his teacher and he felt at ease talking with her because their relationship was like mother and son. She treated him nicely and respectably, so she was one of the people in his life that he could tolerate and actually loved to be around.

Fifteen minutes of comfortable silence passed and Mr. Umino walked in with several other students carrying their luggage. Like Ms. Anko said, it looked to be around ten of them. All of which, he recognized. Shino, Shikamaru, Hinata, Sakura, Naruto… Naruto. Yup, blonde standing in the crowd amidst the other students… Going on a trip to Italy…The SAME exact trip Sasuke was taking to get away from the blonde. Oh life, pity this poor Uchiha.

_Naruto? Dammit! What are the odds?_

Ms. Anko signaled for Sasuke to get up and join the rest of the group as they shuffled toward some currently unknown gate. The Uchiha didn't look back at the blonde the whole time.

_I can't drop out of this now… I paid for this trip with my own money! I'm not going to waste it. Just ignore him and he'll ignore me… Hopefully_.

Sasuke's plan to ignore Naruto worked perfectly for the Uchiha. Even through the annoying wait for security to check every cavity of their bodies for any suspicion of a bomb, Sasuke ignored the blonde. For a moment even, he almost completely forgot about Naruto until they were in line about to hand their tickets in to board the plane. Mr. Umino stopped the line from moving, slightly perturbing other passengers that were stuck behind the students and yelled out, "We'll make this quick! I'm going to read who's partnered with whom! You'll be sitting with this person on the plane to get to know them better if you already don't, and also the one you'll be rooming with when we get to the hotel! Alright, Shino and Shikamaru, Ino and Sakura, Neji and Lee, Hinata and TenTen, and lastly, Naruto and Kiba!"

After Mr. Umino stopped calling out names, everyone looked around at one another, including Sasuke. The Uchiha realized that his name wasn't called and he was slightly confused. Then he realized that he must get his own room! Until…

"Kiba's not here!"

Mr. Umino blinked, looked down at his roster, then looked back up.

"Then it'll be… Naruto and Sasuke! Alright, let's go everyone!"

A silence fell upon the group after Mr. Umino said the last pair of roommates. Everyone knew the story of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. They knew the story of Naruto plus Sasuke equals Trench Warfare. Sasuke didn't want to be a whiner, but he felt like it was hard enough having to try and ignore the blonde… But they're roommates? Again? All that ran through Sasuke's head while they walked toward the plane was…

_What… The… Fuck…_

Sasuke then remembered that not only were they roommates… Again… They had to sit next to each other on a plane for 18 straight hours. Sasuke hoped that things would go better than they had in the past week, in the next 18 hours. Not that it was off to a good start already…

_Hour One_

Sasuke and all the other students boarded the plane with ease, and they all found their seats in a matter of minutes. Luckily, for the Uchiha, he was able to find an empty pair of seats and grab the window seat first. If he were forced to sit with the blonde, at least he'd have a window to look out of for distraction. Even though all he were going to see was water, clouds, and air, it seemed much more appealing than trying to be civil with Naruto.

The Uchiha pulled the strap of his navy blue carry-on bag over his head then brought the bag up and into the overhead compartment. The Uchiha silently amused himself with thoughts of the blonde not being able to fit his carry-on bag in the overhead storage and being forced to hold his belongings in his lap. Considering it was an 18-hour trip, it would be pretty damn amusing to see how uncomfortable Naruto would be with his bag.

Sasuke's thoughts of amusement suddenly escaped him as he saw Naruto approaching behind a few other students, looking around as he did so. Once Naruto spotted the Uchiha, Sasuke could tell he tensed right at the sight of those coal black eyes. The pale boy knew they were both thinking the same thing: this trip could not be any better. Sarcasm was all the rage this year.

Naruto finally shuffled his way over to Sasuke and easily put his red carry-on backpack into the overhead compartment. The Uchiha's mood slightly dampened once the blonde sat down, empty handed.

They spoke not a word to each other, even through the taxi ride and take off. The Uchiha could only hope that the silence between them would be permanent.

_Hour Two_

Naruto knew the Uchiha wanted the whole ride to be quiet. But, the silence between them was killing Naruto. He didn't want to keep this up for 18 hours. He was as sure of that as Sasuke must have been getting tired of seeing the ocean below them. Not even once had the Uchiha neither looked away from the window nor had he once said a word to the blonde. Naruto didn't blame Sasuke entirely for not wanting to say anything; it was too awkward. Especially after their lovely recent past encounters. Quite frankly, Naruto still felt bad for spilling his dinner all over Sasuke. The blonde could vividly remember a nightmare that consisted of Sasuke shaped food coming to kill Naruto. It wasn't a pleasant experience before breakfast.

Naruto didn't want to start a conversation, but he knew if he didn't, there'd never be one between them. Then again…

"Hey, Sasuke."

The Uchiha didn't look away from the window and Naruto thought he might have not heard him.

"Hey… Sasuke!"

He spoke a little louder than before. Sasuke didn't move again and now he realized that he was just ignoring him. The blonde sighed and stopped bullshitting himself and Sasuke.

"Okay, look Sasuke. I know you can hear me. I'm tired of this 5 year old stuff. Could we just get over what happened and move on…? We're stuck together, obviously, so we've got to get along, whether we like it or not. We're much older than what we were, and so we should try to be mature about this. We can't ignore each other for the entire week!"

Sasuke looked over at the blonde with a blank, neutral look – the first neutral look he'd seen out of the Uchiha in a very long time. Sasuke's coal black eyes looked at him for only a moment more before Sasuke replied, "Whatever." Then returned his gaze to the endless blue below.

_Is he serious…?_

"Is that supposed to make me mad?"

Sasuke replied this time without adverting his gaze from the window.

"Am I supposed to care?"

_He's so impossible! Last I checked, he was older than me!_

The blonde sighed, frustrated, and crossed his arms. He stared down the back of the seat in front of him.

_I can officially declare Uchihas to be an emotional bag of joy._

_Hour Three_

A sudden weight on the Uchiha's shoulder finally made him look away from the ever-so-interesting window to see Naruto had fallen asleep and was using Sasuke as his personal pillow. A small snore emanated from the blonde's throat as Sasuke tried to push the blonde off. Sasuke's efforts were in vain as the blonde persisted, even in his sleep, that Sasuke's shoulder was a great pillow. The Uchiha tried talking to him.

"Naruto! Get off me! Find your own damn pillow."

The Uchiha struggled more against Naruto's persistence. All Naruto was giving were groans and sounds of discomfort. In one big push effort, Naruto pushed himself against Sasuke even more, and put his arms out and onto Sasuke's crotch. The Uchiha looked down with his face completely beat red and, with as much muscle as he could, pushed the blonde off of him.

Finally, the blonde seemed satisfied as he leaned to the other side and continued to sleep. The Uchiha could feel an erection beginning to creep up on him. He quickly put his hands in his lap and he could still feel the heat all over his face.

_This is the second time he's done anything sexual to me without knowing it… Dammit, if I ever have to tell him… Dear God, please kill me._

As the blonde happily slept, a stewardess was right by Sasuke and Naruto, so the Uchiha asked her for a blanket. Luckily, she already had one with her.

"Of course, here you are, sir."

She handed him the red blanket with a wide, happy smile.

"Thanks." Sasuke replied as he set the blanket on his lap.

"You're very welcome! Please enjoy the rest of your flight."

Her perky voice only made Sasuke wish this plane were the target of a terrorist.

_Hour Six_

Sasuke's erection had long since gone down, but he still couldn't get the thoughts away from his head. His imagination was becoming overly active and it wouldn't be long until another erection decided to show up.

_You know you want him Sasuke… You __**love **__him!_

_NO! No, no, and no! I know that I've already gotten over that._

_Really then? What was with the rise you got out of an innocent sleeping accident?_

_It's only natural!_

The Uchiha looked back over to the still sleeping blonde who was still none the wiser of how much he had aroused Sasuke. The in-flight movie had already begun, – Pirates of the Caribbean – but Sasuke couldn't care less. Besides, the Uchiha was having a mental fight with himself and trying to fight off a side of himself that was currently trying to coax him into admitting something that he'd locked away for good.

_What about when you slept with Ino? He was __**all **__throughout your thoughts when it should have been __**her**__. _

_Shut the hell up!_

_Come on, Sasuke. Just look at him, vulnerable._

The Uchiha could feel blood rushing up to his face again as he saw Naruto's calm face, but he was able to will it down.

_So what do you want me to do? Rape him?_

_Of course not! _

_Okay, genius, guide me!_

_Smart boy! _

The Uchiha noticed that he was staring at Naruto's sleeping face the whole time he was having a mental break down. Once Sasuke looked away, he realized that Naruto was beginning to finally wake up.

_Close your eyes!_

_Why?_

_Trust me._

Sasuke closed his eyes, obeying his alter ego's command.

_This is so stupid, why am I doing this again?_

_Because you're eager to see what I have planned! _

_No I'm-_

_Pretend to be asleep._

Still almost mindlessly obeying his alter ego, he inhaled deeply to create the effect that he was asleep. The Uchiha could feel Naruto stretch beside him as he began to wake up more.

_What's the point of this?_

_You'll see. Now, slowly as if you're really asleep, lean on Naruto's shoulder._

_Hell no!_

Just the thought of being in physical contact with Naruto made the Uchiha squirm.

_What do you have to lose?_

_My dignity._

_Screw dignity! You know you like this plan._

_Never in a million years._

_He leaned on you… So now it's your turn! Everyone is focused on the movie, so lean!_

Sasuke was locked in thought over this ridiculous suggestion by… Himself. He felt like these past six hours were the worst, and even better, they weren't even halfway through the plane ride.

_I can't!_

_Why not? You're "asleep" and people understand that. Besides, like I said, the only one who'd know about it would be Naruto._

Sasuke's alter ego kept trying his best to persuade Sasuke into probably making the dumbest mistake he could on this trip.

…_I guess it wouldn't hurt to try…_

_See? If he tries to make you move, just move! _

Giving in, the Uchiha slowly moved his body toward the blonde and began to lean toward his shoulder and… He was still moving. Then he realized that he didn't feel Naruto's presence anymore. Sasuke sat up quickly and saw that Naruto had gotten up during Sasuke's mental argument. Sasuke looked around to see if anyone had seen the Uchiha leaning into an empty seat. Luckily, he saw no eyes on him.

_Dammit, I knew that was a stupid idea! That figures…_

The Uchiha sighed and looked up to the in-flight movie screen to see Jack Sparrow making his escape from a group of pirates. This will be the day that Sasuke will always remember as the day his dignity had been saved by Captain Jack Sparrow.

_Hour Six_

"This will be the day that you will always remember as the day you almost caught… Captain Jack Sparrow!"

The throaty cry from the in-flight movie woke a certain blonde from his peaceful slumber. His eyes slowly opened to see Johnny Depp fleeing from a group of pirates. The blonde yawned, then looked over to Sasuke and half expected to see the asshole still staring out the window. To his surprise, he saw the brunette with his eyes closed and his head leaning on the back of his seat.

_Wow… He's not a vampire after all._

The blonde stretched and let another yawn escape his lips. He looked around for a slight moment, and then he felt a sudden filling of his bladder. It hit him like a brick wall; he was amazed that his bladder hadn't burst yet. Naruto looked up and down the isle to see everyone was currently seated and no one was in the isle. Feeling as though his bladder might seriously burst, he got up, leaving the sleeping Uchiha, and headed toward the restroom.

On his way to the restroom, the plane hit slight turbulence, enough to knock the blonde to the ground and irritating his bladder even more.

"_Dammit!_"

His curse hissed through his teeth, but it seemed as though no one had noticed. The blonde luckily made it to the claustrophobic restroom without anymore trouble.

_Ah… Much better… _Naruto thought to himself as he closed the small compartment-like door behind him. He took a deep breath and scanned all the seats, stopping his scanning at his seat. The blonde then noticed that the other seat was empty. Sasuke's was empty.

_I thought he was asleep? Maybe I woke him up._

Naruto started to make his way back to his seat when all of a sudden, Sasuke's head popped back into his seat… From apparently leaning in Naruto's seat. The blonde stopped and continued to stare at the back of Sasuke's head with a puzzled look on his face.

_The hell…?_

Naruto walked back to his seat and sat down. He looked over to Sasuke who had resumed his observation of the ocean out the window. At this rate, the blonde wondered if he would have withdrawals from that window when they landed.

"Sasuke." It came out more of a statement, than anything. The blonde wasn't going to wait for the Uchiha to reply.

"Why were you leaning into my seat?"

The brunette didn't move or speak, as Naruto expected. Naruto restated himself.

"Why… Were you leaning-"

Sasuke looked at Naruto finally.

"I have no clue what it is you're blathering on about. And I, quite frankly, don't care."

Naruto gave Sasuke a puzzled look as though he'd just witnessed a puppy being kicked. Hell, at least that's the way the blonde felt. That's the way he always felt around Sasuke. Like a beaten puppy.

"Sasuke, come on! Could we start over? Would it kill your pride, dignity, or whatever?"

"You'd be surprised."

"Okay, now you're just mocking me."

The Uchiha smirked. "Mock you? Perish the thought."

Naruto gave him a "you asshole" look before sighing, frustrated again. "You're such a miserable dick."

_Hour Ten_

Sasuke and Naruto hadn't really spoken another word to each other since their conversation 4 hours ago. Ever since the brunette brought out his book and began reading. Naruto tried to start a conversation, but almost got mauled by the Uchiha for the sake of a "good, quiet read". Although, Sasuke wasn't necessarily reading…

'_We need to get across this bridge! But to lower it, the lever is-'_

_Why won't you give him a chance?_

'_We need to get across this bridge! But to lower it, the lever is-'_

_You know that you want to talk to him. Like friends. Like you had before __**she **__showed up._

'_We need to get across this bridge! But to lower it, the lever is-'_

_Naruto makes such a grand point._

_WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP? I can't take your episodes! I keep reading the damn line over and over again!_

_Don't blame me, you're the one who won't cooperate._

_Speak for yourself. _

_You mean ourselves?_

_This is insane, I'm not participating in this idiocy!_

Taking a break from his mental discussion, he looked up to see the blonde beside him listening to his iTouch.

"YES!"

Rather, playing a game on his iTouch. Sasuke fought back a chuckle and instead rolled his eyes. He then returned his eyes to his book, trying to continue his reading.

'_We need to get across this bridge! But to lower it, the lever is-'_

_You held that chuckle back!_

_Wow, really? I wonder if there're any good psychiatric hospitals in Italy. _

_You know you loved that._

_Oh, look at that. A cloud just went by._

_You're resisting!_

_I'm ignoring!_

_Ignore this!_

_What?_

_The blonde's moan was like a kitten's purr, asking for more. _

_NO._

Sasuke's alter ego was beginning to send images. Images that the Uchiha wanted to keep away. Images that no matter how hard he tried would not stay away.

_Once the soft covers of the bed were beneath them, Sasuke removed the blonde's shirt and tossed it aside like an unwanted rag. Lucky for Sasuke, this was the only piece of clothing left on his irresistible body. The Uchiha couldn't contain himself and decided the very taste of Naruto would somehow bring him closer to cumming. Right now, the blonde was Sasuke's personal boy toy; a personal pleasure that the Uchiha wanted, inch for inch. _

_Sasuke could feel the blonde's chest heave up and down as he licked and sucked at various parts of his bare, sun-kissed chest. Areas where the brunette sucked were likely to leave hickeys, at the very least and on each nipple Sasuke stopped at, a pleading moan ensued. _

_The Uchiha loved the very taste of his blonde as he finally began to make his way toward his waistline. He teased Naruto by nibbling along his waistline in which the blonde replied by putting his hand on the brunette's head and pushing him down to where Sasuke was face to face with the blonde's erection. The Uchiha then responded by instantly putting the erection in his mouth and deepthroating as much as he could. In addition, he sucked as hard as he could and could already taste the sweetly sour precum in his mouth. His sucking-_

_NO! PLEASE STOP!_

_Oh! He said please!_

The Uchiha finally snapped out of his seemingly inescapable mind. He also realized that he'd been breathing hard and he felt a certain happiness about him… And that Naruto was staring at him. The Uchiha's lungs froze over.

_Bomb?_

_Hour Ten_

_I know I have it… Ah!_

Naruto pulled his beloved iTouch out of his pocket and put in his four-digit password.

_You have your book, I have my iTouch… Nyah, nyah, nyah! Look at me, I'm Sasuke. I have a stick shoved up my ass and you can actually hear me chewing on it._

The blonde mocked Sasuke in his head as he began playing a game of Peggle on his iTouch.

_I'm such a tight ass! I hate life! Ugh… Just making fun of him annoys me._

"YES!" The blonde almost jumped out of his seat as he beat the level he'd been stumped on for a long time. He happily continued to the next level, disturbing a few of the passengers around him and making him forget about Sasuke.

Naruto was completely engrossed in his game now, that he almost didn't notice the Uchiha's breath speeding up next to him. He paused his current game to look over at the brunette who had a deep red face and his eyes drilled deep into his book. The breathing did not slow down nor did his pants get any looser. The blonde was really interested now as to what kind of book the Uchiha was reading.

_What the? _

Then, a second later, the breathing stopped altogether as Sasuke's beat red face stared back at the blonde's.

"Uh… Sasuke… What's up… With uh…"

The blonde quickly moved his eyes down to Sasuke's tight pants then back to his scarlet face.

"What book is that?"

The blonde asked truly curious, yet disturbed all the same. Sasuke offered no answer and instead closed his book and set it on his lap. And, like anyone could have guessed, looked back to the ocean below.

"Hm… I highly doubt your studying to be an oceanographer."

Sasuke, once again, said nothing. This was getting old.

"What's up with you, Sasuke? …Sasuke!"

The blonde put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder and shook him lightly. His hand was quickly slapped away, however, by Sasuke's hand. The brunette's face miraculously became its usual pale again as he looked at Naruto now.

"Nothing, Uzumaki. Just leave me alone, for the rest of the trip. That way, everything will be fine, dandy, and great. For BOTH of us."

The Uchiha's words were made out to be sharp blades, but they lost their effect with Sasuke's straight, almost solemn face. It was as if Sasuke _didn't _want to say any of that.

After Sasuke turned his head back to the window, the blonde looked up at the roof above his seat. Why, oh why did they have to play the game of 18 hours of shit in the plane?

* * *

**Sasukec: Welp… There it is! :D Chap 8 is finally done and I hope you enjoyed! :D**

**I'm gonna start on chap 9 like… Tomorrow (July 3rd), so expect it coming your way soon! Love ya'll :)**


	9. Suite Life In Italy

**Sasukec: Chap 9 be here! Enjoy.****  
**

* * *

"Hello, this is your captain speaking. We are now coming into the landing zone of Rome, so please fasten your seatbelts. The current time in Rome is 2:50 AM and the temperature this early morning is a brisk 55 degrees with a partly cloudy forecast. Thank you for flying with American Airlines and we hope you've enjoyed your flight."

The captain's voice droned on with a sense of happiness that anyone could tell he loved his job – with a passion. As Naruto buckled his seatbelt, another voice came on the intercom, female this time. It spoke in another language. From what little experience the blonde had, it was Italian.

Naruto looked back over to see Sasuke was still looking out the window. As much as he hated to, Naruto spoke to Sasuke.

"Sasuke… Put your seatbelt on."

The Uchiha finally looked away from the window in order to be able to see where his hands were. His grabbed both ends of the seatbelt and buckled them together. To Naruto's amazement, the brunette didn't look back out the window.

_Do I get a thanks?_

"Thanks…"

Naruto gave Sasuke another puzzled look. That was definitely not what he'd expected. Sasuke slightly looked over to the blonde.

"…What?"

"What'd you say?"

"Uh… Thanks?"

"Wow!" The blonde chuckled. "There is a human being lodged deep in there! Maybe you should take that pole shoved up your ass out sometimes. You're suffocating the poor guy in there."

Instead of an insult back, the Uchiha just smirked and looked back out the window.

_What crawled out of his ass and finally died?_

* * *

"Alright! Everyone follow me!" Mr. Umino yelled out after everyone had finally found their luggage. Of course, Sasuke and Naruto had both separated and were as far apart as their little group would allow. The Uchiha had gone silent while Naruto, of course, found his way to one of his friends amidst the group. Rock Lee – Naruto's "British buddy" as he called him – was very eager to be paired with his best friend Neji.

"I am so excited! This trip will be quite pleasant."

Naruto's nickname wasn't misplaced seeing as Lee _had _come from Britain. His thick accent gave that one away. Not to mention his slightly outrageous look. Lee's slick, black hair was almost a complete bowl cut and his eyebrows weren't the smallest. However, Lee got the idea that big eyebrows weren't in, nor were bowl cuts, and he changed his look a bit. His eyebrows were no longer massive and his hair was slightly spiked at the front. A look for the better.

"I wish I was as excited as you were, man. Sasuke gets under my skin too much… In fact, I'm scared he might kill me in my sleep or something."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous Naruto. It can't be that bad."

The blonde laughed humorlessly. "You have NO idea."

Naruto looked over to Sasuke who walked with the group and kept his eyes ahead. The blonde sighed then looked back to Lee.

"Hey… Lee."

"Yeh?"

"Feel like switching roommates?"

"Sorry, mate. No can do. Neji and I are actually happy being roommates."

The blonde felt a damper in his mood now. He wouldn't mind being with Neji. Neji keeps to himself so it'd be like he'd have his own room. Practically, anyway.

Just as the captain had said, the weather was fair and nice today in Italy. The blonde looked around and expected to see old buildings of stone – the kind that you usually see on TV. Instead, the town, as far as the blonde could see, was quite new and full of zeal, even at 3 AM in the morning. As much zeal as you'd find in any big city. However, the remnants of the old architecture could still be seen, even in the newer buildings and at night.

"Listen up!"

Ms. Anko's voice rang out, stopping all conversation among the group and Naruto's observation of the city.

"We should all be able to fit into this limo, seeing as there aren't many of us here. We'll head to the hotel and get our rooms. Since we got here so late, we won't be able to do anything today! So, as soon as we get to the hotel and find our rooms, we go straight to bed. Tomorrow we'll allow you to sleep in a little before we go to a museum exhibit! We are all to meet back up tomorrow in the reception area at noon, sharp!"

Ms. Anko smiled cheerfully and everyone slightly groaned.

"A limo? Awesome!"

The blonde smiled a wide grin as a chrome Hummer-like limo pulled up in front of the group. Mr. Umino signaled the group of teens over to him then lifted the back of the limo up.

"Hand me your bags everyone!"

* * *

The drive through the city kept everyone's faces glued to the windows of the chrome limo. Giant fountains, old buildings, and even a run down castle or two kept Naruto's mind off of everything. Naruto joked with Lee about how it brought back memories of when he'd play Dungeons and Dragons. Lee replied with a puzzled look that he'd never even heard of the game. Astonished, the blonde explained the whole game of Dungeons and Dragons with such enthusiasm, it was more fun watching the blonde explain it than listen to what he was really saying.

Even by the time they arrived at the hotel, Naruto still wasn't done explaining the mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons. Sadly for the blonde, he was soon separated from Lee and settled for a, "We'll play it sometime! It's really awesome!"

Mr. Umino handed the blonde his card key to his room and the journal he was to fill out to receive the extra credit. The blonde's shoulders slightly slumped over. He'd completely forgotten this trip was for school and Mr. Umino was the bearer of bad news for Naruto. Not to mention his teacher's comment before walking off.

"Don't forget to pair up with Sasuke before you go up to your room!"

The blonde grabbed his backpack and another bag before muttering under his breath, "Asshole…"

The blonde found Sasuke just as Mr. Umino handed him his card and walked off. Naruto stopped right next to Sasuke and waited for him to pick up his luggage.

"Well… Ready?"

The Uchiha just shrugged then sighed and began to walk toward the elevators. As they were walking, the blonde finally took notice of the hotel's interior. With the money that was needed to pay for this trip, it looked like they used every cent of it. The hotel they were staying at was top notch and nothing below five stars. The carpet that was laid throughout the entire hotel was a dark purple with golden embroidery all over the entire layout. The designs were an intricate ribbon style mixture of dark purple and gold, a sign that this place was no joke.

As the borders of the carpet met with the walls, more golden lining ensued. It seemed that it was no faux gold; the boarder was serious gold that shined in the light the old Victorian-styled chandeliers gave off. These chandeliers were also, obviously, plated with gold. The walls were not made of gold, much to Naruto's surprise. They were painted of a metallic green and they were littered with various paintings that looked to be legit.

The centerpiece of the giant reception room was a beautifully carved fountain – it beheld many chariot racers with several rearing horses in marble – which looked to be filled with golden Italian currency. All throughout the room, there were red and gold seats and a few benches of the same design. Naruto didn't know much about architecture, but the person who did this was an absolute genius.

The blonde followed the Uchiha to the elevators and yawned before looking down at his card key.

_Room 2500? Holy shit, this place is massive!_

The blonde looked over to his roommate – how he did _not _miss that… Well, maybe a little… – who pushed the button to call the elevator. Luckily, they were the only ones using that elevator. Luckily? More like sadly to the two teens.

"This place is legit, huh?"

The blonde let a smile find its way onto his face. Why not be happy? This trip was going to be amazing. Naruto received a grunt and a small nod from the Uchiha. Elevator still wasn't there.

"This is the furthest I've ever been from home… Same for you?"

The blonde received the same and they were _still _waiting.

"Er… The museum trip sounds boring."

_Still _the same answer, _still _the waiting.

"Okay… Can I get an intelligent answer out of you?"

"Sure."

_Getting somewhere…Even though that was totally sarcastic._ The Uchiha put his bag down and sighed, obviously impatient.

"…Um… Should we just take the stairs…?"

After Naruto finished his question, a _ding _could be heard as the elevator doors finally opened. Sasuke grabbed his bag and waited for a few Italian people to exit before he entered the eloquent elevator. The blonde followed his roommate into the big elevator and watched Sasuke push the number '24'. Naruto raised an eyebrow and said, "Our room is on the 25th floor, Sasuke."

The Uchiha looked down at his own card key and showed it to Naruto.

"No, we're in room 2450."

The blonde was really puzzled now. Just as Sasuke had, he showed his card key, which clearly stated '2500'.

"Well…" Naruto started, stumped. "What do we do?"

The Uchiha shrugged then said, "We'll check them both then." Sasuke finished as he pushed the 25th floor button.

The wait as the elevator trudged its way up past the floors of the massive building seemed to drag between the two teens.

However, they eventually arrived at the 24th floor. They grabbed their belongings, which had, inevitably, been put down during the elevator ride.

After they had made their way down the hall to room 2450, Sasuke tried his card key on the door once… Twice…

"Yeah, your card is definitely not working out Sasuke. Looks like our room is 2500."

The Uchiha shrugged, grabbed his stuff, and headed back toward the elevator. Naruto followed and they waited for the elevator to get to room 2500.

* * *

The blonde inserted his card key into door 2500 and the light above the handle turned green after a small _bleep_.

"Yup, this is our room." Naruto said as he pushed the door open. The blonde was the first to enter and he was completely astonished. His jaw literally dropped as he beheld a suite. Not just a suite, in fact, a _presidential _suite. Naruto wondered if this was a total accident.

Naruto set his things down slowly and gazed at the enormous suite. In this suite there was a medium-sized flat screen mounted on the gold and red striped wall with an elongated, complimentary glass cabinet below the TV. On each end of the glass cabinet, were metallic-golden Pumas, looking as though they were guarding its very existence. Inside the cabinet were many lines of glasses made for champagne and expensive-looking china.

On the direct opposite wall, was a king-sized bed with purple satin sheets and blue, feather-filled pillows. On either side of the bed, there lay a mostly glass nightstand. It looked to be the same make of the elongated cabinet just below the TV. On each of the glass nightstands stood a golden lamp, with the carved design of chariots and horses leading up to the lamp cover which was also golden but with a silver bordering. Also accompanying the lamps was a clock mocking the image of a sundial, but pointed to roman numerals as an analog clock would.

The biggest attraction of the room was a giant, convex, sitting window, which was covered by gold trimmed curtains. These curtains looked to be satin, just as the purple sheets of the bed were. Just to the right of the large window was a black, leather three-seat couch that held two black pillows. And lastly, the carpet it all stood on was simple beige with a black rug lined with gold edges to pull the whole room together.

The blonde couldn't stop staring and didn't even get a good look at the bathroom, but he could care less. He didn't even feel like he could sit down without breaking something. This was one hell of a mistake that Naruto loved. For once, a mistake _was _a good thing.

"Ho… Ly… Mary… Mother… Of… Jesus…"

A snort could be heard as Sasuke walked past the blonde. "Pick up your tongue off the floor, Uzumaki. We've got to get to bed. And by the way, I get the bed."

Naruto came back to reality and grabbed his bag, setting it on the purple sheets. "What? No way! Come on, it's a big enough bed-"

"You can sleep on the damn couch."

_Selfish much? _

"Isn't that a little unreasonable?"

"I thought I said I don't care?"

All the while they were having their little bout, Sasuke was already unpacking his things. He grabbed his nightclothes and went into the restroom, which was over by the entrance door. Before Naruto could reply, the Uchiha had already slammed the restroom door shut.

"Assface…" Naruto mumbled under his breath.

* * *

The Uchiha had, as he said, gotten the whole bed to himself and Naruto had gotten the couch. It was a repeat of 2 years ago, except in Italy and with satin sheets. _Much_ more expensive. Sasuke had fallen asleep within minutes of lying down, but Naruto just couldn't get to sleep.

The blonde sat up from the couch and shivered a bit as he took the covers off of himself, exposing his bare chest to the air-conditioned suite. He swung his legs over and off the couch, touching his feet to the ground. He sat for a moment, thinking of how he could get himself to fall asleep.

_That bed is probably heaven… Damn you Sasuke, I was really excited for that bed._

Naruto looked at his phone and saw that he'd only been in Rome for an hour.

_Really? Ugh… This is awesome… But Sasuke makes this so tough._

The blonde sighed and searched in his nearby backpack for the journal Mr. Umino had given him. He thought that it could pass some time by and it would tire him a bit. After he'd found the notebook and a pencil, he got up and curiosity got the best of him. He walked over to the gold curtains and pulled one back to see a beautiful view of the city.

Not just an amazing view of the city, but an excellent view of a giant, Roman coliseum. The coliseum was almost half gone and destroyed, but it was still an old-world marvel. The coliseum was completely dark and eroded, but the lights from the city could be seen giving a glow behind it. It lit the coliseum up just enough to be seen and was dim enough to see all the stars in the sky, including the crescent moon.

"Wow…" The blonde let the words escape his lips as he sat down in the window. He stared at the marvel for a few more minutes before opening his journal to the first page and writing things down.

_'We got to Rome okay. Not that the plane ride was exciting. Rome is pretty cool actually. Sasuke doesn't help that he's always in a sour mood. Some roommate he is… I should probably get some sleep for the museum tomorrow.'_

* * *

**Sasukec: Hope you've enjoyed chapter 9! Welcome to Italy everyone :)**


	10. Surprises, Invitations, And Revelations

**Sasukec: Surprised at how fast these are coming? Haha, I know I am! We're finally at a milestone! Chapter 10! And it's only their first day in Italy! You know what that means? This is gonna be going for a LONG while :)**

**Enjoy my works of staying up into the early morning hours to please my readers! :D**

**(This chap is mainly dedicated to my baby girl, Lindsey, whom, without her, I wouldn't have gotten these past 3 chapters done so quickly! Love you girl ;))**

* * *

"Gaahhh… Ouch…"

The groaning and moaning of a said blonde woke Sasuke from his peaceful sleep. The Uchiha pushed himself up on his elbows and blinked a few times, trying to adjust his eyes to the sunlight that pervaded the room through the giant window.

"Shut up Naruto… It's too early…"

The Uchiha finished his sentence with a long yawn. After the yawn had finished, Sasuke turned around, putting his back to face Naruto who was on the couch. Sasuke's eyes had just begun to shut and he was about to drift back to sleep, when he was scared shitless.

"OH FUDGE! SASUKE, WAKE UP!"

The brunette could've sworn he jumped twenty feet in the air out of the bed. Next, he saw the blonde running into the bathroom with a handful of clothes. This worried Sasuke a bit…

_What time is it anyway?_

Sasuke reached over to the glass nightstand and grabbed his phone to see that it was 11:34 AM.

"Holy shit! NARUTO!"

It was a few moments before the blonde replied from the bathroom.

"Whaa-t?"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP?" Sasuke was already out of bed and making his way to his bag for his clothes.

"It's your fault too, DUMBASS!"

He'd have to just forget the shower and most essentials, they were running late as it was. After the Uchiha had dressed himself in navy blue jeans with a black belt and a long-sleeved, black polo, he searched for his hair gel. Then, he realized that he put the gel up in the overly expensive-looking bathroom. The same exact bathroom Naruto was currently in.

_Ef my life…_

Sasuke walked over to the bathroom door and could hear the shower spraying water.

_Maybe he won't notice if I just step in there to grab my gel, then out._

The Uchiha turned the golden doorknob and slowly pushed the red door open. He stepped inside slowly and saw before him a naked, wet blonde, reaching for a towel. Both teens froze neither wanting to make the first move. Both Naruto and Sasuke's face became red and Naruto quickly grabbed the towel he was reaching for and threw it at Sasuke's face, protesting loudly as he did so.

"WHAT THE HELL, SASUKE? GET OUT!"

The towel landed right on the brunette's face, then to the floor as Sasuke closed the door behind him. Once outside the bathroom, the brunette kept his hand on the doorknob as he tried to will his blush away. He'd just have to skip the hair gel part.

_He blushed also… You know what that means don't you Sasuke boy?_

_No hair gel. That's fine._

_Did you see how much he's **grown**? I KNOW you were oogling it with your eyes!_

_SHUT UP!_

_Stop avoiding!_

_STOP TALKING!_

Sasuke's alter ego luckily gave up with one shoo from the Uchiha. He was already dealing with insanity without his alter ego butting in. The pale boy walked back over to his bag and brought out a comb. He decided to settle for combing his hair through, even though that wasn't what he'd usually settle for.

Sasuke combed through his hair, styling it in its usual bangs first, hair out in the back as best he could without a mirror. Seeing as the mirror he needed was in the obviously occupied bathroom. Shudder.

_Never again…_

_Or maybe?_

_I can't hear you!_

Sasuke was jumping off this crazy train. He deemed his hair to look good enough then headed toward the suite's main door. He grabbed the card key that Naruto had set down on the elongated glass cabinet then knocked on the bathroom door.

"I'll meet you in the reception area, dobe."

A few moments later, "Yeah, whatever."

* * *

After the blonde heard the door close behind his roommate, he straightened up from leaning down to dry his hair out with the towel that was previously thrown. He wrapped the towel around his waist then looked at himself in the mirror, steadying himself with both hands on the porcelain sink. He noticed that he had dark rings under each of his eyes; a clear indication that jetlag was taking its toll. Maybe they should give jetlag a new name: Sasuke Uchiha.

_Damn, am I tired…_

He sighed then scratched his head before running his hand through his slightly damp hair. His spiky, blonde hair retained its volume even after a shower.

_But damn, am I sexy._

Naruto grinned at himself in the mirror, trying to put himself in a better mood than what he felt. He stood up straight and took a deep breath, then exhaled.

_Better not waste anymore time. Don't want to be late._

* * *

"We're seriously not going? Why?"

"Well, we're supposedly in for some bad weather. Are you seriously complaining?" The Uchiha's enthusiastic voice asked Naruto, complete with a raised eyebrow.

The blonde shrugged and gave Sasuke a solemn look. The Uchiha had his hands in his pockets, looking bored as ever against the wall. The air between the two boys was now awkward and it wasn't letting up any. Both of them knew what was going through each of their minds. Sasuke walking in on all of Naruto's naked glory. Despite the atmosphere around the teens, the blonde continued.

"What are we supposed to do instead?"

A said pink-haired girl came up to the roommates and answered Naruto's proposed question.

"Mr. Umino told us to just hang around here until they work something out."

Naruto let a smile onto his face, for Sakura's sake.

"Thanks, Sakura. Got any ideas as to what's fun around here?"

Sakura smiled slightly then lowered her voice to a volume that was only intended for Sasuke and Naruto to hear.

"You both know Lee, right?"

Naruto nodded, almost wide-eyed and completely interested. "Yeah?"

The Uchiha acted as though he weren't paying attention, but Sakura knew he was listening.

"Tonight, he knows a guy here who's hosting an awesome party. You two in for it?"

"A party! Wh-"

Sakura harshly cut him off with a shush.

"Not so loud! Mr. Umino and Ms. Anko can't know about it or else we're _dead_!"

The Uchiha rolled his eyes at Sakura and Naruto, snorted, then walked back over to the elevators to go back up to his room. Sakura and Naruto both watched after the Uchiha then returned to their conversation at hand.

"Don't worry about him, I'll get him to come*." Insert internal laugh here. The blonde grinned at the pink-haired girl. "Now give me the details!"

* * *

_Knock knock._

"Sasuke? Come on, open up!" A said Uchiha's voice could be heard from the other side of the door.

"What's the password?"

"Uh… Really? Don't be a kid, Sasuke."

"Wrong."

The blonde sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Sasuke's an ass?"

"No."

"Oh! I know! Asshole!"

"Nope."

"Dammit, I was so sure of it too."

"Man, you really suck at this, Uzumaki."

The blonde chuckled, getting a kick out of this. "No, seriously Sasuke open up."

"Whatever." The doorknob turned and the door swung inward to reveal Sasuke standing in front of the doorway.

"Sorry Naruto, no girls allowed."

"Oh, you're a clever one! What're you doing in there then?"

Both teens shared a small chuckle as Naruto made his way past the brunette and sat down on the king-sized bed. Oddly enough, the earlier "incident" seemed to be in the forgotten past and the atmosphere wasn't as awkward as it had been before. By barely.

_Wow we actually joked around with each other. If things will stay like this, maybe we'll actually survive._ The blonde thought to himself as he reached for the remote on the elongated cabinet and turned the flat screen on. As he searched through the channels, Sasuke walked past him and took a seat on the three-seat couch.

As the blonde began to realize that every broadcast was in Italian, he settled for a random news channel. Although every bit of it was practically inaudible for the blonde, he could care less. Naruto kicked his shoes off and lay down with his hands behind his head on the purple satin bed, contemplating what to do.

"So, you feel up for that party tonight, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha was leaning his head on his curled up fist. He shrugged. "Why? Should I?"

Naruto looked over to the Uchiha with a small smirk. "You could so you can at least say that you were happy about something in your life."

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed to slits. "In that case, I wouldn't want to break my streak."

_Woah, death glare._

"That doesn't mean you have to be such a tight ass about it. You could've just said no…"

Italian speaking silence greeted the teens again as the blonde stared onto the ceiling. Naruto's eyebrows pulled together before he spoke again.

"Sasuke, why don't you ever let up?"

The Uchiha gave him another raised eyebrow. The blonde restated himself.

"What I mean is, why do you hate me so much?"

More silence came from Sasuke. Naruto knew it was impossible to get an answer out of him, but maybe he could get an A for effort. It's not like there was anything else to do.

"Fine, don't answer that then. Why did you come on this trip then?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto then down to the beige carpet before mumbling, "Like that's any of your business…"

"Will you answer any of my questions without being a jerk…?"

Sasuke shrugged then turned his attention to the news, which showed the storm system that was making its way toward Rome.

The blonde sighed then sat up.

"We're in Italy for Christ's sake. The least you could do is act happy… What happened to us being friends, Sasuke? Will you at least answer that?"

"_I know that our time together has been… Well, weird for one and… I just wanted to let you know that throughout all of this, I feel that maybe I became your friend. Yeah, weird to put it that way, but I thought I'd tell you since we may get out of here today."_

"_Sure… Um, thanks… Same here."_

Naruto waited for a response from the Uchiha, but none came. Sasuke was still studying the beige carpet below and his coal black eyes seemed empty, passive, and caught. The blonde stared at Sasuke's face, waiting for an answer still. The Uchiha's eyes continued to bore into the floor and they seemed frozen in time. Sasuke seemed to be debating with himself. Naruto sighed and stood, finally making Sasuke's eyes look up to him.

"Look, Sasuke. Whatever, alright? Just… Forget I ever said anything."

Naruto then began to walk toward the door.

"I'll be back, I'm getting something to eat." The blonde muttered then closed the door behind him, leaving Sasuke to his thoughts.

Naruto made his way to the elevator, his thoughts scrambling to find his own answer to everything he'd asked Sasuke. Sasuke made no sense to the blonde. It was always an emotional roller coaster with Sasuke. A roller coaster that you could never get off of. Naruto just wished that Sasuke would open up, at least _attempt _at telling Naruto what was wrong. Naruto would understand and try to change.

_Isn't that what friends do? Try to change when something's wrong?_

The blonde sighed as he waited for the elevator to hit the bottom floor.

* * *

_What does he want me to say? _

_The truth, Sasuke._

_What truth? I've got nothing to say to that dobe._

_That night he was drunk. That night you stole his-_

_Not. Now._

The Uchiha put strong barriers around his sane conscious to block his alter ego that seemed to invade his mind a little too much for comfort. Luckily, his alter ego also sealed itself away, knowing that he wasn't welcome right now. Sasuke stood up from the couch and walked over to the over-sized window. He pushed the curtains aside and revealed the view of the coliseum… And a notebook?

_What the?_

Sasuke picked the notebook up and opened it to the first page. It had writing and the Uchiha read it to himself.

'_We got to Rome okay. Not that the plane ride was exciting. Rome is pretty cool actually. Sasuke doesn't help that he's always in a sour mood. Some roommate he is… I should probably get some sleep for the museum tomorrow.'_

Sasuke's eyebrows pulled together in thought.

_Does he complain about me every chance he gets? _

* * *

Naruto's grin had inevitably returned, as he was lucky enough to get free food. He'd passed Lee who, after the blonde told him he was going to get some food, gave him a few cups of ramen. The blonde didn't ask where Lee had gotten it but he could care less. Naruto got his ramen and was heading back to his room happy as can be. Until he got to the 25th floor and he remembered that Sasuke was waiting for him to return. Oh, goody…

_Knock, knock, knock._

"Yo! Sasuke! Open up, it's me."

Moments later, the door opened to, once again, reveal a solemn-faced Uchiha. Naruto made his way past Sasuke then he put his cups of ramen down on the elongated glass cabinet.

"I got some ramen for us, Sasuke. I know you don't rea-"

The blonde turned around and stopped mid-sentence when he saw the Uchiha with his arm stretched out toward Naruto. The blonde gave Sasuke a puzzled look and began, "What're you-"

"Let's start over, like you said." Sasuke interrupted. "I know I haven't been the greatest person to be around… And I'm…"

The Uchiha acted as though he lost his train of thought only to regain it a few moments later.

"I'm sorry. What happened in the past shouldn't matter… So, let's restart things."

The blonde was astonished at what he was hearing coming out of Sasuke's mouth. Had his prayers been answered? Naruto looked down to his still outstretched hand then back up to Sasuke's face. Naruto couldn't find any trace of a lie in the Uchiha's features, not even in his eyes.

Naruto put his hand in Sasuke's. The blonde grinned slightly just as Sasuke's small smile appeared.

"Sure, Sasuke. You bet."

Both teens had agreed on something and it was something that pleased each of them. That was an oddity to the blonde. He didn't know about Sasuke, but he was amazed, to say the least.

Naturally, the blonde went back to his cups of instant ramen. As he was looking them over, excited to eat each of them, he reminded himself about the party.

"Oh! Sasuke!"

The Uchiha had gone back to sitting on the couch, one leg crossed over the other and his head resting on his hand again.

"What?" His enthusiastic tone rang out.

"About that party…"

* * *

Loud, foreign music could clearly be heard as Naruto stepped out of the car. The night sky was clear and held not a single cloud, only vast amounts of stars and the moon. The air was, once again, chilly and it made the blonde shiver. However, he was not only shivering because of the cool air. He was shivering in excitement. So many people were already here.

The house, rather manor, was a three-story beauty. With the style of an old vineyard manor, the walls of the house were light brown with many vines growing along its sides. The manor had many windows along its light brown walls, almost every one of them were lit from inside. The walls of the manor were shaped into a perfect square and the salmon colored tiled roof slanted down on the left and right sides of the manor. From what the blonde could recall from school, this manor was made during the Renaissance period. Its roof and structure suggested as such.

In the front of the house, there was a single, large, double wooden door that was wide open for guests. The stone steps that led up to the manor's door had a stone railing on each side as it fanned out the further it went from the door. And lastly, on each side of the steps at the bottom, there lay a stone carved horse.

"This party is going to be _awesome_!"

* * *

***Sexual innuendo - In other words, cum. **

**-Fangirl giggle-**

**Sasukec: I wonder what Lee's friend pays on the taxes for that house… Or does the system work like that in Italy…?**

**Eh, I'm confusing myself xD**

**I hope you enjoyed chapter 10! Chap 11 will contain the following: love, betrayal, lemons, alcohol, and emotional baggage! :D Stay tuned ;)**

**Also! If you didn't catch my notice (I should still have it up…), seiikiru on deviantart(dot)com will be drawing a scene from each chapter of Solitary Bliss! Be sure to check out seiikiru on deviantart(dot)com to see how AMAZING their gallery is. **


	11. All Is Fair In Love And War

**Sasukec: Looky here! Another chapter! Holy crap is Sasukec actually putting her all into getting these chaps out? …No, actually. Her baby girl, Lindsey, is STILL forcing her to write these chaps and get them done.**

**Even though she gives me ideas, keeps me on schedule, motivates me, and gets me to the end of each chap, I'm a slave. Although I may not admit it, I'm loving it ;)**

**xD Enjoy :)**

* * *

Inside the manor, the blonde looked around him to see it crowded with many people – most of which were Italian – who were either stumbling drunk, dancing to the pounding music, or high. Naruto could smell alcohol and smoke pervading throughout the manor. It was almost as strong as the pounding music. Naruto really wanted to meet Lee's friend who seemed to have money coming out of his ass.

As Naruto stood in the large doorway of the manor, he could feel someone come up next to him. He looked to the right of him to spot a completely dressed up Sasuke. The Uchiha was dressed in a black, button up shirt and with three-quarter sleeves. A small, red tie that accented his shirt went halfway down his chest and his pants were skinny, dark blue denim jeans with a black and white studded belt.

The Uchiha looked around, just as Naruto had before looking at his roommate. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"You know if any of this gets to Ms. Anko or Mr. Umino, we're in deep shit."

The blonde grinned widely. "That's why it's so fun! Duh."

The Uchiha smiled slightly and shrugged. "Sure, whatever."

Naruto looked around once again then back to Sasuke.

"Wait here, Sasuke. I'll be right back."

Without giving Sasuke time to reply, Naruto walked off then returned about a minute later with medium-sized golden tinted bottles. The blonde handed one to Sasuke with a wide grin. The Uchiha gave him an "you're kidding, right?" look until Naruto finally noticed Sasuke's look. After the blonde took a swig, he asked, "What's up, Sasuke?"

"I'm NOT drinking this shit."

* * *

"Another down… Woo!"

A said Uchiha's voice could be heard over the music and crowd as he downed a straight shot of vodka. A few people cheered as the Uchiha downed another shot. He lazily bowed, seemingly proud of his accomplishment. Including his accomplishment of balancing himself from his bow. After Sasuke stood up, he saw his roommate a little ways off. He squinted his eyes at the blonde before making his way over to him uncoordinated and stumbling.

Naruto felt a sudden weight on his shoulder and it scared him slightly. He looked to see where it had come from and he saw it was Sasuke slightly leaning on his shoulder.

"Sasuke! Where'd you go?"

"Ah, you know! Everywhere…"

"Sasuke, you are SO drunk out of your mind."

"NO! YOU are."

The blonde knew he, himself, was drunk, but no where _near _as drunk as the Uchiha was. He'd never seen the Uchiha act like such a spazz. It was amusing, in fact. He was never letting him live this down.

"No, Sasuke I-"

"Hey!"

Sasuke cut off the blonde sharply and took a long pause before continuing.

"I need to talk to you, Naruto."

"What?"

The music's track had changed to a more than necessary loud song and it was impossible for the blonde to even hear what Sasuke was going to say. The Uchiha's face showed clear frustration as he repeated himself, louder this time.

"I said, I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!"

Naruto nodded and yelled back, "Why don't we go talk upstairs where it's quieter! That way you won't have to repeat yourself!"

The Uchiha barely understood Naruto as he made his way to the stairs. Then, a moment later, Sasuke got the message even though Naruto was making his way up the stairs.

"Oh! I'm coming, Naruto!"

Sasuke made his way over to the stairs and stumbled his way up the stairs and down a hallway that the blonde was already walking down. The blonde checked a random room, looking from side to side after popping his head in, then okayed it. No one was in it.

Naruto walked in first, Sasuke trailing behind him, his drunken stupor becoming worse with each passing moment. Naruto did NOT envy him. The Uchiha was going to have _the worst _hangover in the history of hangovers.

The room Naruto picked was a medium-sized room, so the walls were all fairly close together. As Naruto turned around, he felt a wall at his back and a vodka-coated tongue in his mouth. One of the blonde's hands were grabbed by the wrist and pinned against the wall, just as his body was. Sasuke was attacking Naruto and grinding against him all the while.

_"I… Love you, Sasuke…"*****_

The blonde's eyes widened. Partially out of the surprise make out attack by the brunette, but mainly because of what had flashed into his mind that instant Sasuke's lips met Naruto's.

_He… He __**lied **__to me! _

Using every ounce of strength in his body, and his one hand, the blonde pushed Sasuke away from his face and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"YOU ASSHOLE! Y…YOU _LIED _TO ME!"

The Uchiha gave him a look of confusion as he continued to hold his wrist against the wall. Sasuke's eyelids lowered as Naruto continued.

"SASUKE… WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"

The Uchiha's half-lidded eyes became closed again as the blonde attacked his lips with his own. The kisses the two boys exchanged were hurried and continued without hesitation. Their kisses demanding so much more; much more than either could know. Naruto inhaled deeply through his nose then brought his free hand up to the back of Sasuke's head, tangling his hand in the Uchiha's perfect, black hair. The blonde seemed to channel all his energy, focus, and anger into this kiss.

The lustful kiss, however, could not last. The blonde pulled away from the Uchiha and punched him square in the mouth with his free hand. Blood followed the Uchiha as he fell to the ground, his arms catching his falling body. Both boys were panting hard, trying to regain air that was lost into their lungs. The Uchiha looked up at the blonde with hurt, confused eyes and a busted lip. Naruto's fist curled up in anger, his face held a tint of red in it and his deep blue eyes had turn to razor sharp crystals.

The Uchiha took one last look at his roommate, then stood, fleeing the room and manor. Naruto could've sworn as the Uchiha ran out, tears were beginning to swell in his eyes.

* * *

**_"I... Love you, Sasuke."_* = This line is referring to the line from the first one, Solitary Bliss, when Naruto had drunk sex with Sasuke. This is what Naruto said to Sasuke during their previous sex episode. Also, the reason for him remembering it suddenly, is a psychological term called "State dependent memory". Naruto was drunk when he had sex with Sasuke and he's slightly drunk again, thus him being in a drunk state triggered the memory. There's your fun little psychology lesson for today xD**

**Sasukec: Woah! Where would we be without drama? xD Although short, I hope you enjoyed!**

**What's a blonde to do now? :3**


	12. Buddy System

**Sasukec: Sorry I had to leave everyone in suspense last time, I just couldn't resist! :]**

* * *

The party had ended the moment Naruto and Sasuke entered that room. At least, for the blonde it was over. There was no way he was in _any _mood to stay. He should have just refused Sakura's invitation; should have just stayed at the hotel like a goody good two shoe would. Instead, he decided to go and expected to have a good time. Expected that it would be fun and "awesome". Wrongo, Mr. Uzumaki. What was a blonde to do now? Now that he knew… He knew the truth? What really happened two years ago.

_Why didn't he tell me? Why the HELL didn't he tell me? Dammit Sasuke! You just have to fuck things up, don't you?_

Luckily, Naruto made it back to the hotel without much trouble. Seeing as Lee was his friend, he was able to get a ride back from one of Lee's friends. Naruto was still fuming the entire trip back, but began to give up on being angry. He wasn't getting answers any time soon, so why get mad over it tonight?

The blonde knocked one light knock on their suite door but it was open. The door reacted to Naruto's knock by opening slightly.

_Sasuke left the door open? _

Naruto opened the door fully and saw a passed out Sasuke sitting against the wall, his lip still busted and his chin covered with blood. It surprised him a bit, but it brought no feeling of urgency to the blonde. He closed the door behind him and stared at Sasuke's unconscious face.

_Serves him right. Asshole._

The blonde began to walk over to the bed to just get in and go to sleep. But, one more glance at Sasuke made him stop. He sighed.

_Dammit… He deserves it; I should just leave him. Go to sleep, Naruto… It's the best thing… Move…_

Naruto's body wasn't obeying, only nailing itself down in front of Sasuke.

_Fine. I clean him up and get him in bed. I hope I don't regret this._

The blonde leaned down and grabbed Sasuke's left arm, swinging it around the back of his shoulders. Luckily, Sasuke's body complied and barely held its own as the blonde walked Sasuke over to the bed. He laid the Uchiha down, then went into the bathroom to get the necessities to clean the brunette up.

* * *

After Naruto had dressed Sasuke's wound and cleaned him up, he pulled the covers over him and looked at Sasuke's unconscious face. His eyebrows pulled together in thought as his fist tightened.

_You better hope you can explain yourself, Sasuke. I didn't have to help you…_

Naruto tore his eyes away from the brunette's face and looked over to the massive window to the left of him. He walked over to the window and pulled the curtains away to reveal his notebook right where he'd left it. He picked the notebook up and opened it as he sat down on the sitting area before the window.

_Think school, now. This is an extra credit school trip to Italy. I need to journal down what happened today._

He took a deep breath before grabbing his pen next to him and jotting down today's events.

'Ms. Anko let us sleep in a little, although me and Sasuke almost slept in a little too late. We were supposed to go to some museum today, but it was cancelled because of some bad weather. I haven't seen much of the sights of Rome, but luckily our hotel room has a good view of this giant old coliseum. Sasuke's starting to let up and it's getting easier to be his roommate.'

As the blonde closed his journal, he snorted lightly at how much he was lying in that last line. He looked back over to Sasuke, then back at the coliseum. He sighed, got up, then flopped down on the three-seat couch. He was out in moments.

* * *

_Oooh… Dear God, my head…_

The early morning sun shone in from the window onto Sasuke's eyes, waking him from his unconscious state. He opened his eyes and blinked them a few times, trying to clear the fuzz that occupied his vision. His head was pounding as he sat up with his hand rubbing his head as if it would cure the throbbing headache. No, not headache – migraine.

Sasuke removed the covers from him and looked down at himself. He was still wearing his party attire from last night. Only thing different, were a few slightly noticeable bloodstains on his shirt and his tie had become loose. He even still had his shoes one.

_Ugh… What?_

Confused, the Uchiha stood and stumbled, regretting getting up at all. He groaned then looked around the room. He then noticed a blonde sprawled all across a said couch and a line of drool making its way down his chin. The Uchiha groaned again and rubbed his head.

_Damn… What the hell happened last night?_

Sasuke stumbled his way to the bathroom, trying to keep his moves steady to avoid irritating his head too much. Once in the bathroom, he looked at himself in the mirror as he passed it, then stopped before it.

_What the…?_

Sasuke fingered a large Band-Aid on his lower lip, then cringed as he pushed a little too hard. The memory hit him like a brick wall.

_Oh… Naruto… _

What was Sasuke going to do? He didn't know any way he could explain his actions to his roommate.

_You could always tell him…_

_Too late! He already remembered it._

_Not that…_

…_Oh, hell no. Could you __**please **__leave me alone for the rest of… Forever?_

_That wouldn't be fun! Besides, wouldn't it feel better to have things off your chest? Wouldn't it be better if the truth was out there for him and even __**you **__to see and realize?_

_No…_

_He __**kissed **__you after he remembered it. He wanted you. I know you could feel it._

_Stop it…_

The Uchiha closed himself off again and stared at his face in the mirror. His eyes were red and puffy, an obvious combination of tears and lack of sleep. His chin had faint traces of blood that had stained.

_Who did…? Naruto must've. But why would he care? Especially after I…_

Sasuke felt ashamed of himself. He felt embarrassed. He felt stupid. He felt… Angry. Not at Naruto, at himself. He hated the fact he had even agreed going to the party, hated the fact that he was easily talked into getting drunk, and hated the fact that he openly expressed feelings that he'd vowed never to bring out again.

He slammed his fist down on the sink, nearly fracturing his hand and wrist. He swore out loud.

"God dammit!"

A loud knock on their suite door made him lightly jump. Immediately following the knock, Mr. Umino's voice yelled.

"Naruto, Sasuke, wake up! We've got a full day ahead of us!"

Sasuke replied. "Yeah! We're up."

"Be down in the lobby in a little over an hour."

"Alright!"

The Uchiha looked at himself in the mirror again and sighed. What could he do about it? There was nothing he could do. Just go about his day and hope Naruto wouldn't talk about it for the rest of the day. Maybe Naruto will play dumb like Sasuke did and not bring it up the whole day. God, Sasuke's head hurt.

_I should wake Naruto up before I get in the shower._

Sasuke did just that by kicking Naruto on his leg that was hanging off the couch. The blonde choked on his own snore and sat up quickly.

"Argh… What do you want, jerk?"

The blonde blinked his eyes a few times, trying to shake the sleep from them while looking at the Uchiha.

"Get your ass up. We need to be down in the lobby in about an hour. And I call shower."

Sasuke turned around to head back to the bathroom when Naruto called out. Sasuke cringed.

"Sasuke! Last night-"

"Last night. Was. Nothing, Uzumaki."

"The hell it was! I want answers!"

The Uchiha turned around and looked into Naruto's cold, blue eyes. Sasuke walked closer to the blonde and stood a few inches over him. Naruto instinctively got into a fighting stance as Sasuke got close to him, nearly towering over him.

"We're NOT talking about this because we have nothing to talk about. Now get ready or else we'll be late, **Uzumaki.**"

Before the blonde could reply, Sasuke turned his back to him and headed into the bathroom. He slammed the door behind him and moments later, the shower water could be heard.

The Uchiha leaned against the back of the tiled shower, letting the water hit him as it pleased. He slowly closed his eyes and let his mind wander.

_His breath ghosted across the Uchiha's inner thigh as his mouth closed around the brunette's longing erection. _

"No…" Sasuke opened his eyes. He wasn't letting this happen, not now. He didn't want things to get worse. Besides, things were already completely shit, so why make things worse with a vision? A vision that was unnecessary, stupid, appealing and… Delicious.

The Uchiha shook his head lightly, being careful to not hurt his head too much. He sighed heavily then slid down the wall into a sitting position. He closed his eyes again and thought to himself.

_Get it together, Sasuke. I vowed to leave Naruto behind. I admit that I loved him… ONCE upon a time, I did. That time's over…_

* * *

_Fucking asshole. I get the key this time._

A said Naruto Uzumaki slammed the suite door behind him then made his way to the nearby elevators.

_Fucking prick. I can't believe this! He lied to me… Lied these past two years! The least he could have done is said something to me. It was my fault anyway… Wasn't it?_

Naruto contemplated this as he pushed the button for floor one. Naruto stood back and leaned against the back of the elevator and stared at himself in the reflection the elevator's silver walls gave off. He sighed, frustrated and starving for answers.

_But… Sasuke participated. He could've pushed me off. He's not entirely just a person who expresses his impulses freely. _

35…

34…

33…

_But… Maybe he planned that out. Maybe he figured I was drunk and he hoped… Or KNEW that I wouldn't remember it. He didn't tell me on purpose! _

24…

23…

22…

The blonde's fist clenched in anger and he now wished he'd given Sasuke more than a busted lip, even though it served him right. He didn't even want to consider Sasuke's side of the story. He only wanted to consider the blonde's fist meeting more than Sasuke's lip.

_It's not right though! Dammit… _

13…

12…

11…

_But… _

The blonde ran through the night he came back from Gaara's drunk. He remembered now every grueling detail of those events. As he ran through them, one part in particular caught him in a net of doubt.

"_I… Love you, Sasuke."_

The blonde's eyes widened as he stared at the wooden ground. He ran the thought many more times through his head, trying to connect it with himself. _He _said that.

_Ding._

The elevator doors opened to reveal almost everyone that was on this trip in the lobby. The almost would be completed with Sasuke joining them.

As Naruto exit the elevators, the first person he saw was Ino.

_Ino… Wasn't she with…?_

The blonde was puzzled. Sasuke and Ino were together when he had seen them last at Applebee's. And, by the looks of things, they were no longer together. Sasuke hadn't hinted toward it in any kind of way. He didn't even look her way once on this trip.

Wanting to know more on this subject, Naruto walked over to Ino and greeted her after she noticed him. She smiled brightly at him.

"Hey Naruto!" She lowered her voice slightly. "Did you like the party last night?"

That was a kick to the gut. Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat that had suddenly formed.

"Er… Yeah, it was great. I was wondering… Weren't you and Sasuke together?"

Ino's cheery smile quickly turned into a hard lined frown.

"He… He broke up with me before we went on the trip."

"Oh… Sorry about that, Ino. When?" The blonde would usually try his best to at least sound interested, but this time he wouldn't have to.

Ino sighed, obviously sad to be reminded of this.

"After he stormed out of Applebee's when you spilled everything."

Another kick. Keep them up, Ino.

"Oh…" Naruto didn't have to ask about anything this time. Ino was on auto-talk now.

"He told me that our relationship wasn't working out and that he'd "fallen out of love" with me."

The blonde could see small puddles of tears welling up in her eyes. Her teary eyes looked behind Naruto then the tears overflowed as she walked off. This confused the blonde as he then turned around to see a sour faced Sasuke walking out of the elevator. The two teens made eye contact, both eyes full of so much emotion that it was surprising the two didn't break out into a fight right there in the lobby. However, they were in public. Being in public equaled no physical disputes. However, word disputes were another story.

"What the hell, Naruto? Where's our key?"

Naruto replied defensively, "_I _have it, dumbass."

The Uchiha shoved his hands in his pockets, disregarding Naruto's comment about the key. "Why were you talking to Ino?" Sasuke demanded, keeping his eyes as dark as death on the blonde.

"Mind your own damn business."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, trying to not look into the Uchiha's death glare.

"Seeing as we're roommates, I believe your business is my business." Sasuke's words were cold as ice and each enunciation a sharp dagger.

The blonde chuckled humorlessly. "You made that clear."

"What…" It took a moment for the Uchiha to understand Naruto's innuendo comment. His face went red with anger and embarrassment. The Uchiha opened his mouth to continue, but was cut off by Ms. Anko as she spoke to the group.

"Looks like everyone's here? Alright, goody! It's a _beautiful _day in Rome and we're taking a tour bus around the city, stopping at a cultural museum, and lunch at the coliseum! Follow Mr. Umino to the bus waiting outside!"

Mr. Umino raised his hand as the group gathered toward him.

"Follow me, everyone! Remember roommate buddy system!"

Both Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, and groaned in unison. Today was going to be _so _much fun.

* * *

**Sasukec: Hehehe… Gotta love the buddy system, eh? Damn you Iruka. Damn you ;)**

**Also, if you're looking for some random smex, check out an oneshot I did just yesterday. Once there, my notes will describe what it will be. Check it out here: (insert fanfiction followed by) .net/s/6131298/1/Mangekyo_Always_Wins (Sorry, fanfiction(dot)net hates links with a passion xD)**


	13. Opposites Attract

**Sasukec: If you are like my girl, Lindsey here… Say hi, Lindsey.**

**Lindsey: Hiii everyone! :D**

**Sasukec: You are VERY impatient for Naru and Sasu to get to their sex! Well, I'm sorry, you're gonna have to wait! :P Enjoy and try not to explode from anticipation, mmkay? 8D**

**Lindsey: Nuuu! I can't wait! Dx**

**Sasukec: Lord, help us all e.e**

* * *

The monuments, carvings, and buildings could never get Sasuke interested. Not interested when he was stuck next to a said Naruto Uzumaki on an hour-long bus trip. At least the plane had more room than this bus. The two boys' elbows were constantly rubbing against one another and it was a really uncomfortable experience. Needless to say, neither was happy about this.

Sasuke got the window seat again and the blonde was stuck on the outside seat again. Sasuke had his right arm uncomfortably against his chest, and Naruto the same with his left arm. It was quite a laughable site, considering both teens had an equally sour scowl on their faces. Well… Not so much for Naruto, it was hard for him to pull that off.

The Uchiha finally turned his attention to everything that was passing by outside. He saw another fountain similar to the one in the hotel and a few older buildings, but he was hardly impressed. It might have impressed him a little more had he not had so much on his mind. Not when so much was riding on his shoulders.

_Why should I let it bother me anymore? He's just a guy. Just a normal idiot that I shouldn't be spending so much time on. What'd I tell him? We'd start over?_

The brunette pursed his lips together tightly in a scowl.

_What a joke. _

_It didn't matter now, anyhow. It seemed that the two teens were doomed to ignore each other for the rest of the day. Screw the day, the rest of the trip. Neither wanting to let up on their silent vows, they never started a conversation with one another. Neither really wanted to start a conversation and tried to seem vigilant in their goal to keep it that way. After all, a man's pride and dignity was his life. _

The hour-long bus tour seemed to be over quicker than what Sasuke had hoped. This was a good thing. A good sign that if he could survive an hour _sitting _next to the blonde, he could surely get through the rest of this day and all others that followed.

Before Sasuke knew it, they were all filing out of the large tour bus and out in front of a large, modern building with gardens and fountains alike strewn all about the front of it.

_This must be the museum. I swear, if we have to stay with our roommates during the whole museum too…_

As if on queue, Mr. Umino answered Sasuke's unspoken question.

"You do not have to stay with your roommate, but it is recommended! Before we leave we will be doing a questionnaire that will require you to refer to the works of art here."

The students groaned, including Naruto. Sasuke, however much he wanted to, didn't groan. Instead, he once again mentally noted he hated his life.

_Could things get any worse…?_

* * *

The first half-hour was filled with complacency. Not only had Naruto and Sasuke separated, but also they hadn't seen each other once through that amount of time. So, the Uchiha's mind was allowed to wander as he browsed the many different works of art, mildly interested. Mildly interested being the thoughts of calculating how many more hours it would be until they got back home.

Although Sasuke hadn't been necessarily paying attention to where he was walking, he was able to tell when there was an obstacle in the way so he'd be able to dodge it and continue on his path. However, a said blonde somehow got under his senses.

The sound of two bodies hitting each other wasn't necessarily the best sound in the world. It was followed by grunts, groans, and other sounds of discomfort. This colliding of bodies included the said blonde falling to the ground and the Uchiha recoiling back slightly and holding his face in his hands.

"Ah! Dammit, Naruto!"

Some people around them noticed their collision and were looking at the two teens with concerned looks about their faces. The Uchiha signaled with his hand to them that they were all right, then they nonchalantly went back to their lives.

Naruto stood up, rubbing his face also. He started complaining a few moments later after sitting up. Sasuke figured he'd gotten the wind knocked out of him when he landed.

"Watch where you're going, Sasuke!"

"Practice what you preach, Uzumaki."

Each boy huffed, then continued on their original paths. However, it wasn't long until they bumped into each other again, this time not so violently. They brushed it off again only to run into each other several more times before they decided to give up avoiding each other altogether.

"It looks like some force wants us stuck together." Naruto said as he sighed and leaned against a large, porcelain pole. The blonde crossed his arms across his chest and looked to Sasuke who looked no happier than he felt.

"So, what're you saying? The force is strong in us?"

Naruto gave Sasuke an incredulous look. "I'm being serious."

The Uchiha smirked, trying to give the blonde a hard time. "So am I."

The blonde rolled his eyes then stood up from the wall. "Anyway… Unless you want to risk bumping into each other again, I suggest we just stick together."

The Uchiha was amazed Naruto didn't talk to him about… Well, even Sasuke didn't want to bring it up. Sasuke knew that it was slowly chewing at him like it had for the past two years. But, it must be harder for Naruto. The truth must have been devouring Naruto and spitting him out. Sasuke almost felt bad for the blonde. Felt bad that he didn't tell Naruto what happened. Another reason for him to be pissed at himself. Great.

_But he kissed me after he remembered…_

_Did I really tell him that I loved him? I don't love Sasuke…_

_I don't love Naruto…_

* * *

The rest of the day in Rome went perfectly according to plan… For Mr. Umino, anyway. For Naruto and Sasuke, they decided to go with this "unknown force" and stick together, not that they were even the littlest of happy about it. The "force" didn't say they had to be. Also, the "force" obviously had a sense of humor. It was almost as if it branded each of the roommates with opposite magnets.

Throughout the rest of the day, up until they got back to their suite, they had bumped into each other several more times. Some more violent than the others, unfortunately. The worst of all involved food and left both teens quite a mess. Such a mess, that they were allowed to get a cab back to their hotel to wash off.

Once back inside their suite, Naruto brought up just what they'd been avoiding all day.

"Alright Sasuke, can we be civil?"

The Uchiha looked at him, stopping the combing of his hair from getting out of the shower just recently. Both boys hadn't spoken a word to each other the whole cab ride back and through the whole time when they took turns getting in the shower to wash the food off of themselves. This was the first time he'd heard Naruto speak since the museum, so it startled the Uchiha a bit.

"Uh… Sure?"

Sasuke decided to humor the blonde. What could the harm be?

"I think… We need to talk about last night."

There's the harm. Sasuke continued his combing, trying to ignore the blonde again.

"I told you, there's nothing we need to talk about." Sasuke's tone held acid and regret that was so palpable, even Naruto felt it.

"I know it's definitely not our favorite thing to talk about. But, if we never talk about it, we'll never-"

"Did you hear me, Uzumaki? There's nothing to talk about."

"Okay, so, you're just going to play the role of the two year old in this? Be a bigger man, Sasuke. I know you can."

The Uchiha sighed, frustrated.

"Okay, let's talk about it. Go ahead."

Sasuke stopped combing his hair then turned to face Naruto who was leaning on the wall next to the giant window. The blonde's expression showed that he was trying to be serious with Sasuke and the Uchiha was trying anything but.

"Sasuke… Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"Don't give me that bullshit! You know _exactly _what I'm talking about."

Sasuke pretended to ponder what Naruto wanted an answer to.

"No… I don't think I do."

Naruto harshly cut in. "Why didn't you tell me what happened that night two years ago! Why did you keep it to yourself?"

"Sorry, Naruto. I still don't know what you're talking about."

The blonde vaulted himself off the wall then lunged at Sasuke, grabbing the collar of Sasuke's shirt and putting the brunette's face into his.

"DAMMIT, SASUKE! I WANT THE TRUTH!"

The Uchiha seemed to not be in the slightest perturbed by the blonde's sudden actions as he just pushed on Naruto's chest, making him back off of Sasuke. As Naruto slightly stumbled backward, Sasuke yawned, a sign of boredom.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry. I just want answers and I have none. Nothing to go on. I just want you to open your fucking hard shell… Is that too much to fucking ask?"

The Uchiha's face slowly began to lighten as he sighed. The brunette looked down and mumbled, "I'm sorry."

The blonde cocked his head to the side slightly.

"What?"

"I said I'm SORRY, dammit! I don't have answers either, Naruto! I was just afraid…"

"Afraid?"

"No, nothing. Last night was an accident and… So was two years ago."

"Sasuke…" The blonde lowered his tone a bit. "Why did you say you were afraid? What were you afraid of?"

"I…"

Sasuke turned around so he wouldn't have to look at the blonde. It was all coming back even though his mind had forbidden it to ever come to the surface again. Sasuke continued after a deep breath.

"I don't know what happened."

After a long silence, the blonde spoke up after soaking everything he'd just been told.

"What'd we say yesterday?"

The Uchiha was confused at the sudden change in conversation. Sasuke turned back around to look at the blonde.

"What do you mean?"

"About what we agreed to. Just forget the past."

The Uchiha looked at Naruto's face, which seemed to hold nothing back and his words expressed what he wanted. There was no lie coming from Naruto, even his blue eyes seemed to be a warm ocean.

"Are you suggesting we try to start over again?"

The blonde nodded. Sasuke sighed and thought about it for a moment. Naruto calmly waited for Sasuke to make his decision.

"So… That's it, we're settled? No more shit fights? No more past?"

The blonde shrugged lightly. "I mean, it won't be perfect… But we can both try to forget what happened between us. That first punch, that night two years ago, last night… Everything."

Sasuke wished things could be as simple as wishing something gone, then it vanished. But, this was life. It wasn't as simple as Houdini made things out to be. Naruto continued, trying to press the idea onto Sasuke.

"We could be really good friends, Sasuke. Remember how easy things were after we made up yesterday? It was so much easier around you. Because… When we're fighting like this, it makes me feel like I can't do anything without you putting me down. So… That's why I've always fought back, words and actions."

Naruto had gone into this conversation hoping to get the feelings out of Sasuke when instead, he realized that he needed to get his own feelings out. Not that they were new to him, but to say them to Sasuke was an entirely different thing.

"So… Can we try to work together in forgetting everything that happened?"

Sasuke looked back on everything that had happened in such a short amount of time. He remembered loving the feeling of having an easy conversation with the blonde. Although he'd locked those feelings away with several different security locks, Naruto had unlocked every one of them in one sweep.

The blonde held out his hand to Sasuke, just like yesterday. Sasuke smiled the smile that was rare and only meant for those he considered worthy of it. He put his hand in Naruto's again like he had yesterday, and nodded.

"Sure, Naruto. We'll try again. This time, together."

* * *

**Sasukec: Awe! Make up scenes are great! :D**

**Sasuke and Naruto are gonna try their hand at this "getting along" thing again, but will they stay that way forever? What happens when there's a surprise trip to a Linkin Park concert in the next chapter and Naruto and Sasuke sneak off together during the concert? **

**Find out in the next chapter! :D**

**Lindsey: Omigod! Nuu! You're making me wait? I can't… I can't! -Pouts in corner-**

**Sasukec: She'll be fine xD Also, there will be a contest of some kind soon! Stay tuned for details ;) **


	14. Butterflies

**Sasukec: READ! IMPORTANT! **

**As part of an exact 3 month anniversary of Do Ut Des still going strong (WOO! 3 months already?), I have decided to give a gift to a lovely, lucky reviewer! The prize will be Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution for the Wii, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes for the PSP, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 for the PS2, and the Official Naruto Fanbook! I no longer use these items, so I've decided what better way to get rid of them than to offer them to my lovely readers?**

**You're probably wondering just how you can get this stuff? Simple! From July 13 through the 20, review telling me why you'd like to be entered into this drawing. Once you tell me why, I'll put your name in a hat to draw on the 20th! The winner of the drawing will win all those lovely prizes and the lucky winner will be announced on the 21st!**

**I wish you all luck and if you are the winner, I will need to get your address to send your prizes to you. Do not worry, I'm not a creeper nor do I share personal info :D**

**Enjoy chap 14 everyone! :D**

* * *

The blonde squinted his eyes, trying to shield them from the sunlight that barely caught his eyes. He blinked a few more times and realized that a banging could be heard on their door. As Naruto began to sit up, he could hear the sound of Mr. Umino yelling.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Time to get up!"

The blonde tried to sit up more, but lost his hold on the small couch he was on, then fell on his head, his body half off the couch and half on.

"OW! Ugh... Yeah... We'll be down in an hour!"

Mr. Umino must've seemed satisfied as the blonde called out. Mr. Umino spoke not another word and went down the elevator, as far as Naruto could tell. The yelling obviously stirred Sasuke as he sat up and looked at his roommate, still half on the couch and half off. It took Sasuke all his willpower to be able to hold back a laugh.

Naruto looked up to Sasuke to see that he was holding back his laugh.

"Don't. Even."

Naruto awkwardly got himself up then stretched, happy he didn't have to rush anything this morning. He'd taken a shower the night before, so one in the morning wouldn't be needed. The same went for Sasuke.

Speaking of Sasuke, the blonde looked over to the Uchiha to see that his eyes hadn't left Naruto. It gave Naruto a feeling of warm, cuddly butterflies in his stomach. That kind of creeped the blonde out a bit.

"Uh... Sasuke? Hello, anyone there?"

Naruto waved his hand in Sasuke's field of vision and just when it seemed like it was taking no effect, Sasuke looked away. The Uchiha then looked back up to Naruto's face in confusion.

"What?"

"You alright? You just like... Spaced."

"Er... Yeah, I'm just still tired."

The Uchiha yawned to confirm his statement. Sasuke got up then walked over to his bag for his clothes. Naruto cocked his head to the side for a moment in confusion then shrugged. After Sasuke had grabbed some clothes, he went into the bathroom to change. As the blonde was looking through his clothes for the right ones, he sniggered.

"Prude..."

Naruto realized that Sasuke really was a prude. The most the blonde had seen of his body was his arms, hands, and feet. The Uchiha never exposed himself more than that... Except for... Well, let's not venture there. Naruto realized that he was the only one who slept in his boxers. In fact, the blonde was still in his boxers.

Naruto felt heat rush to his face as he realized the reason for Sasuke not wearing only his boxers around the blonde. Sasuke was just petrified to sleep in his boxers. So much for trying to forget everything that happened.

"Uh... Naruto?"

The blonde jumped a bit then looked to the left of him to see an already dressed Sasuke giving the blonde an odd look.

"Yeah?"

"What's up with your face?"

The blonde then noticed his face felt abnormally hot, now that Sasuke brought something up about it. He quickly looked away, trying to focus on his clothes.

_What the hell is wrong with me?_

The blonde then noticed that Sasuke was still waiting for an answer.

"What're you talking about? I'm fine, Sasuke. Thanks for the concern, though."

The Uchiha snorted. "Whatever you say, Uzumaki."

Naruto mentally sighed, glad the Uchiha didn't question further. Thank God Sasuke wasn't the questioning type. Then, he'd be fucked. But, first mental note Naruto made... Kill the butterflies.

* * *

"What do you think we're doing today?"

Naruto questioned Sasuke as they waited patiently for the elevator to hit the bottom floor. Sasuke just shrugged with his hands in his pockets, the usual Uchiha stance. Naruto leaned against the back silver wall of the elevator and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Pft, thanks for the input, Sasuke."

The Uchiha let a smirk tug at his lips as he replied sarcastically, "That's what I'm here for."

"Not to mention making small children run in terror."

The blonde received a smack on the back of the head for that one. Naruto grabbed the back of his head as it stung.

"Was that really deserved?"

"In every way."

"I think the children are crying now..."

The blonde began laughing at his own humor, the stinging slap at the back of his head completely forgotten. Sasuke chuckled lightly along with the blonde, something he was able to do easily now that the two teens had forgotten everything. However, the Uchiha wished it were as simple as they had put things. What was the term? Easier said, than done.

_Ding._

As the elevator doors opened, they stepped out to see everyone on their trip jumping around in excitement. Maybe not quite so literally, but close enough. Naruto and Sasuke both stopped after exiting the elevator, watching as the buzz spread among the group.

Naruto leaned toward Sasuke and said, "Think we get to go home early?"

"Tch," Sasuke replied. "Let's wish."

After their mini conversation, Lee came up to the two teens.

"About time you got here!"

Naruto smiled slightly, "Yeah, what's with the uh... Hype?"

Lee smiled widely seemingly happy to tell the two of this news.

"Mr. Umino and Ms. Anko surprised us with a concert to go see Linkin Park! You do know them, don't you?"

The blonde nearly jumped out of his skin and started frolicking.

"Linkin Park? Man, you're kidding."

"No lie! It's going to be awesome!"

Usually, Naruto would try to make fun of the way Lee tried to use lingo outside of his own, but he could care less about that. Lee was right. This _was _going to be awesome! Sasuke didn't look it, but his small smile was proof enough that he was as excited as everyone else. Even Sasuke could be happy about some surprises.

As Naruto, Lee, and even Sasuke began chatting about their predictions about what songs would be played, they never would expect that tonight would be the night that would change their lives.

* * *

**Sasukec: I couldn't resist! I just had to end it there! I know, I lied saying that the concert would be in this chap, but like I said, I lied. Apologies! -Bows-**

**Anyway, I once again wish you luck if you enter my drawing! :D**

**Much love! :3**


	15. Street Pranks

**Sasukec: Hey my readers! I know, it's been some time since I've updated and Sasuke and Naruto have been quite lonely and abandoned because of my new story I've been working on, Void. Well, if you've read my previous update (yes, there was one!) then you know why I've decided to pick up Do Ut Des again. **

**For those of you who don't know, well it seems that I'm in kind of a lull in Void so why not pick up Do Ut Des again? I'm getting pretty close to finishing, so might as well! Hope everyone's doing good and without further ado, here's chappy 15! Things are getting GOOD x3**

* * *

"Sasuke? Are you still awake?"

A said blonde's loud whisper only made the Uchiha inhale deeply and turn onto his other side, continuing his slumber and answering Naruto's question. Naruto rolled his eyes slightly at the Uchiha as he continued to sleep. Bad thoughts then fluttered to Naruto's mind. The kind of bad thoughts that involved make-up, hair gel, various food condiments... And a resulting black eye. As Naruto realized that those thoughts would reward him with just that, he quickly abandoned the diabolical plans and he decidedly settled for looking around the suite for things to possibly do.  
_  
Damn... There really is nothing to do now. That concert isn't until __later, so what does Ms. Anko want us to do? Wait around like good __little children?_

The blonde sighed, boredom leaking from his exhale of air. What was Naruto supposed to do? Sasuke had so kindly fallen asleep so there went most of Naruto's entertainment. The TV stations here were in all Italian, so the blonde saw little point in trying to decipher Italian into English. What was he left with? Naruto continued to scan the room, still trying to find something of little entertainment until it was time for the concert. His eyes landed on the giant curtained window as he realized it'd been a while since he'd journaled. Pleased he had found something to do, he walked over to the window and pulled the curtains back to reveal his journal notebook.

_Right where I left you.  
_  
As he sat on the window seat, he opened his journal and flipped it past his two entries and stopped. There was a third entry and it was definately not of his own writing... But of Sasuke's. Naruto swiftly looked back over to Sasuke, who was still sound asleep. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows together in thought and suspicion.  
_  
Why were you looking at my journal? And why did you write in it?  
_  
Naruto then turned his attention back to his journal and Sasuke's entry. It was at least a paragraph. Naruto read it to himself, growing more confused as he did so.  
_  
This idiot isn't what you'd expect him to be. It's like he knows what __to do just to piss me off. Then right after that he can make me feel __like the greatest person on this Godforsaken world. Sometimes I feel __like just telling him-  
_  
The blonde raised an eyebrow and curiousity got the best of him. He turned the page and realized that another entry had been written and in Sasuke's handwriting again. Only this time, it was a couple sentences.  
_  
If I didn't want to go on this trip, I could've just turned around __before I got onto that plane. I'm fooling myself.  
_  
The blonde barely made out the two sentences. Sasuke had obviously tried to mark out his writing with crosses. The Uchiha probably didn't realize that Naruto kept his big eraser nearby. Which, Naruto thought, he should use to erase Sasuke's random writing.

_This is a SCHOOL journal Sasuke... Not your personal Dr. Phil._

But the blonde couldn't bring himself to grab the eraser. He felt as if Sasuke had let a piece of himself out and left it for the blonde to decipher. It obviously wasn't a shopping or to do list. What the blonde really wondered was if the Uchiha was talking about Naruto.

_If not me, then who else?_

It continued to puzzle the blonde. It puzzled him why Sasuke would even write these kinds of things down. In any kind of journal. It couldn't even really compute with Naruto. One thing was for sure; no more leaving his journal just lying around. Even though he wanted to continue to ponder what these notes were about, he decided to skip them for now. The blonde grabbed both of the pages and gently ripped them out, folding them together for later reading. After he stuck the folded papers in his pocket, he grabbed his nearby pen and began writing all that had happened. Well, all being defined as the parts that didn't involve Sasuke.

* * *

Sasuke woke with a start. It scared Naruto more than he gave himself credit for and much more than what Sasuke had from his apparent dream. The bed-head Sasuke looked around the room before finally landing his eyes on the said blonde. Naruto was looking right back at him, iTouch frozen in his hands.

"Awe, poor wittle Sasuke had a bad dream? Don't worry Sasuke, I checked under the bed for the Boogie Man. He said he doesn't visit things scarier than himself."

The blonde received a satin pillow in his face. He removed the pillow, laughing lightly as he did so.

"Shut up, Naruto."

As the blonde went back to whatever game he was playing on his iTouch, he replied distantly, "About time you woke up, anyway. I wanted to share all this boredom with you!"

Sasuke snorted as he swung his legs off the side of the giant bed and yawned.

"Hoofrickinray..." Sasuke's words blended with a wide yawn.

"Well," Naruto continued, eyes still bored into the touchscreen device. "We've still got a good three hours before we have to leave for the concert. Any bright ideas for what we can do?"

The Uchiha began to slightly fix his hair before he replied.

"I don't know, why are you asking me?"

Turning his attention away from his iTouch and onto Sasuke, Naruto shrugged.

"Just asking for input. It's not like I know either."

The blonde put his iTouch in his pocket then stood up to stretch.

"I think I might go out for a walk. Do you want to come too?"

Sasuke's invitation surprised the blonde. Then again, they were on good terms now. The kind if good terms where past did not apply now or ever. It still surprised Naruto and he felt like it always would. Although strange, he could admit to himself that he liked it.

"Um... I guess. Sure."

"We should probably let Ms. Anko know we're even going out." Sasuke said as he looked through his bag. Moments later, the Uchiha pulled out a black, light jacket then slid it on himself. Naruto nodded, then went to retrieve his own jacket: an orange and black jacket, the same make of Sasuke's. After taking a look at Naruto's jacket, Sasuke barely stiffled a chuckle.

"That thing is hideous, Uzumaki."

Naruto glared at his roommate as he slid his right, then left arm into the light jacket.

"I apologize, Sasuke. My clothes don't always scream, 'Hello, I'm disguising a trapped, tortured soul underneath all this black'. It's actually healthy to wear light colors sometimes and I happen to like orange, thank you very much."

"Sure," The Uchiha snorted. "Dont come crying to me then when a bunch of kids start laughing and throwing rocks at you."

The blonde laughed as he led them out of the suite.

"I'll consider myself warned."

* * *

"Fine. Just make sure you're back an hour before the concert. And please don't do something that will have me needing to bail you boys out of an Italian jail."

Ms. Anko teased the last part with a small smile. Both Naruto and Sasuke replied, "Yes, mam."

After exiting the hotel's main doors, Naruto was happy he'd grabbed his jacket. It was definately light jacket weather. With the sun on the horizon and continually falling, it would only get colder now. Both boys stuck to the tile like sidewalks, Sasuke with his hands in his jacket pockets and Naruto with his hands twined together, resting on the back of his head. The air around them was chilly; any colder and it might be possible to see their own breath. There was as much traffic, if not more, as there was back home. Naruto had still imagined Rome to be the kind of place that wasn't as urbanized. But, actually seeing Rome changed his view on that and made him wonder if other old cities were the same way. He assumed as much. It was the 21st century anyway. Things change and history books rarely do.

Now that they were taking their walk, the blonde wondered just where to. A walk was just a walk, but they usually had a sense of just where that destination might be toward.

"So, any idea where we're going, Sasuke?"

Naruto looked over to the Uchiha who continued to look ahead. After a moment of what Naruto assumed was thought, the Uchiha settled for a shrug. Naruto then thought of a possibility.

"What about that giant colliseum behind our hotel? Feel like going to check it out?"

Sasuke shook his head.

"Nah, we've already been to see it. What's the point?"

"I don't know. I'm just throwing out ideas since you won't."

"It's just a walk, Naruto. It doesn't have to have a destination."

"But...," Naruto whined as he removed his hands from his head and let  
them dangle before him. "That's so boring! We've got freedom to go  
anywhere in Rome! Can't you feel the power?"

Naruto raised his arms into the air as if he were a dictator, emphasizing his point about "power".

"It's thriving."

Sasuke's monotonous voice was almost an insult to the blonde.

"Okay, Mr. Sarcasm, we'll just walk around boringly..."

And so they did. The two teens walked together along the same path, neither wanting to start up the conversation. Naruto didn't see any point to whine about it anymore seeing as Sasuke would just ignore him and Sasuke just wanted to walk. However, given enough time, the blonde would lose it. The sun had just vanished behind the horizon and the street lamps had just flickered on when Naruto sighed heavily.

"Could we at least do something?"

"Like what?" Sasuke challeneged.

"Something like..."

The blonde looked around. There were a good amount of people out and most were sitting nearby at...

"That cafe!"

Naruto pointed at the French styled cafe which was lined with various outdoor tables and seats made of metal. In the middle of the intertwined metal tables sat a long pole that had a red material wrapped around it. The blonde guessed that it was an umbrella folded down. The cafe itself held many wide, glass windows and on some windows it said, 'Le petite dejuner, du soir'. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the cafe.

"That cafe?"

"No, the one down the street. Of course this cafe! I love French food! Plus, I'm starved."

The Uchiha shrugged.

"Fine. You're buying, then."  
Luckily for everyone on the trip, they each got 200 dollars worth of money in Italian currency. It was enough to keep everyone content, even through the lesson in amounts in Italy. Naruto sighed then reluctantly replied, "Just don't get something overly expensive. Let's hope they speak English, too."

Both teens headed in the direction of a certain empty table outside and sat. Moments after they sat, a young, Italian girl came up to the teens. She looked to be about the same age as Sasuke, with dark, long, and fine hair and deep blue eyes. It was as if she was a fair mix  
between Naruto and Sasuke's features, oddly enough. She was slim, small hipped, and short with an angular face and pale skin. She smiled at Naruto and Sasuke and sat two menus in front of the boys and spoke with a soft, high Italian accent, "Hello and welcome to 'Le petite dejuner, du soir'. My name is Cartina. I will be your server this night."

Her English was near perfect and it surprised even Sasuke. The blonde smiled back at her and decided he'd start up a conversation since she obviously knew a good amount of English.

"Cartina? What a beautiful name."

The raven-haired girl flushed as she giggled and replied, "Why, thank  
you senior..."

"Naruto. How'd you get so good at English?"

The blonde continued to charm her in his own ways while Sasuke just crossed his arms, back slumped into the metal chair, and eyes rolling.

_Is he flirting with her? She's just a fucking waitress. He doesn't even know her.  
_  
She smiled again, showing her teeth which were a perfect, straight white.

"I took some classes and they seemed to work well for me. I actually-"

"Cartina!"

After her name was yelled a few more times and, from what the blonde could tell, Italian cursing, she excused herself.

"I am sorry, I will be back in one moment."

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but she was already walking off, her tablet held close to her chest, thin hair flying behind her. The Uchiha sighed and opened his menu, trying to ignore the blonde.

"She wasn't half bad looking, Sasuke. She-"

Sasuke looked up at the blonde under his lashes, glaringly.

"Why do you care? You don't have a chance with her. She's just some Italian waitress."

The blonde soon had a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Oooh! Am I sensing jealousy?"

"No!" Sasuke replied quickly and defensively, confirming Naruto's statement. Naruto couldn't help but laugh at Sasuke before opening his own menu. It was only moments more before Naruto spoke up again.

"...What did YOU think about her?"

The question slightly caught Sasuke off guard. He'd thought the subject over Cartina was over. Obviously, she was still on his mind.

"She's just a waitress."

The Uchiha tried to keep his eyes on the menu, also trying his best to refrain from picking the most expensive thing on the menu.

"Oh, fine. Don't know why you're all moody about it."

French styled music silence filled the air between them as they each tried to decide their meals. It wasn't long until Cartina returned, hair up in a high ponytail. Her smile returned as she saw Naruto.

"Bonjourno, senior Naruto. Who is this, your friend?"

"Yeah, I usually call him sour puss, but I'm sure he'd like Sasuke a lot better."

_MUCH better..._

Cartina then turned to Sasuke and smiled her sweet smile at him like she had Naruto. The Uchiha somehow felt like he should smile back, but he knew it wasn't going to happen. He just nodded at her in acknowledgment.

"What is it I can get for you, seniors?"

"I'll take this pasta thing!"

Naruto pointed to it in the menu, obviously indicating he had no idea how to pronounce it. Cartina wrote down his order on her tablet then looked to Sasuke who said nothing and only pointed to his order. Cartina nodded, still smiling, and wrote that down also. After writting down their orders, she then asked, "Drinks?"

Naruto ordered a Coke while Sasuke settled for some water. She then told them she'd be back with their drinks. After she got them their drinks, Sasuke just stirred his ice cubes around with his black straw. The blonde noticed Sasuke's mood.

"Okay... What's up, Sasuke? Your mood is depressing, honestly."

"How much longer until we have to go back?" Sasuke said, entirely disregarding Naruto's inquiry.

"Now you're avoiding."

"No I'm not," The Uchiha acted surprised. "I was just asking a simple question."

"So did I. Answering my question with another question isn't an answer."

The Uchiha chuckled lightly.

"You contradict yourself, Uzumaki."

"Would you stop calling me that?"

"It's your name, isn't it?"

The blonde rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but I prefer NARUTO, sour puss."

"No, I think you prefer Cartina."

Frustrated with Sasuke's jealousy, Naruto sighed heavily, raising one eyebrow as he did so. A thought floated around in the blonde's head. A thought that would probably get him a black eye. If he was lucky, he'd be able to get out with at least a bruise. However, Naruto was crazy enough to do it and wanted to see Sasuke's reaction. He needed a good laugh. So he stood up... Walked to the side of an already confused Sasuke... And planted his lips to the Uchiha's.

Sasuke's eyes flew wide open as he inahled quickly through his nose. The blonde closed his eyes and waited to see Sasuke's reaction. However, Naruto didn't expect this. Sasuke... Kissed back? It didn't seem to even perturbed the Uchiha. In fact, it was Sasuke that deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue into the blonde's mouth. This joke was on Naruto. He got a reaction, but it certainly wasn't Sasuke's reaction. The boys pulled apart, slowly, both were staring each other in the eyes. The blonde could tell those around them were staring too, also stunned by what just happened.

As if reality hit, Sasuke's eyebrows pulled down in sudden fury as he reared his right fist back and threw the right hook onto Naruto's  
face. The blonde stumbled back a bit, but caught himself on a nearby empty chair. The blonde could feel the sting of Sasuke's punch on his cheek as he chuckled. The blonde made his way back to his seat, sitting back down as if nothing had happened. He tried to play it off, but he could hear the unsteady quake in his own laugh.

"I think that may have actually hurt, Sasuke."

Naruto could see the Uchiha's fists balled up and his knuckles turning white. So white, the blonde thought his knuckle bones had burst through his skin. Oh no... Sasuke was pissed.

"I'm leaving."

Sasuke abruptly stood and began walking back toward the direction of the hotel. Naruto sighed and noticed Cartina was coming back with their food. She must have seen what happened because she was frozen with two plates in her hands.

Naruto looked over to Sasuke who was still storming off - Naruto was sure that black cloud was forming over his head - then back to Cartina. He figured there was no use in letting the brunette walk back alone. The blonde reached in his pocket, pulled out some money, and set it on the metal table. Before he got up and caught up with Sasuke, he shot an apologetic smile at Cartina who was still frozen and confused.

Naruto had to jog to catch up to the Uchiha. Once he was at Sasuke's side, he said, "Come on, Sasuke. It was just a j-" Sasuke stopped walking abrutly.

"EVERYTHING is a joke to you! Cartina, this trip, me..."

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"What happened to our good terms agreement?"

"Well, it went out the window when you decided to kiss me for no  
reason!"

"I told you..." Naruto argued. " That it was a fucking joke!"

"In public?"

The blonde drew each word out.

"That was part of the joke..."

"Well I'm failing to see the humor on this."

"Obviously! You started to kiss back!"

A blush began to crawl onto the Uchiha's usually pale face.

"We're not talking about this. At least not now. We have to get back  
to the hotel."

Without giving Naruto a chance to reply, he shoved his hands into his pockets and continued on his previous path. The blonde watched him for moment before tagging along with him at his  
side.

"I'm still starving..."

"For the love of God, shut up."

* * *

**Sasukec: Things are heating up, eh? ;D**

**Feels good to be updating again! I hope you guys are still with me! ;-;  
Well, keep on the lookout for chap 16! I'm working on it! :D  
Reviews are all so welcome! 8D**


	16. Concerts And Tongues

**Sasukec: ****I am VERY happy to announce that I'm back on the grind with this story! My beloved sasu and naru would like to move on with their lives, so they called me and cussed me out for a bit, telling me their urges were getting too much to stand… -Sigh-**

**Terrible night…**

**Well! Enjoy the FLUFF in this chappy, mates! 8D**

**

* * *

**

Naruto yawned lightly as he sat on the right side of the bed, waiting for Sasuke to get ready. Neither had talked about the blonde's "joke" since the café. The blonde still didn't see the reason to get all flustered over it. It _was _just a joke. But Sasuke had taken it so seriously.

_He kissed me back. _

The Uchiha came out of the bathroom, fixing the collar of his white, button up shirt. He looked over to the blonde who looked back at him.

"You know, that still wasn't funny."

"What?" Naruto looked at Sasuke with a confused look. The Uchiha just rolled his eyes then tapped his lips with his index finger.

"Oh! _That _joke. You liked it, Sasuke." Naruto teased, grinning and winking as he did so.

_Did I just do that?_

The Uchiha's face flustered, red immediately pervading his cheeks. Naruto was sure that wasn't anger.

"The hell I did! Why do you think I punched you?"

"It was just a _love tap _Sasuke!"

Naruto smirked as Sasuke sighed heavily and grabbed his jacket, heading toward the door. The blonde jumped up and followed after him, opening and closing the door behind him.

The Uchiha was almost to the elevator when Naruto grabbed Sasuke's wrist, which made the Uchiha spin around to face Naruto.

"Sasuke, can't you take a joke?"

"I obviously can't because I," He brought two fingers from each his hands into the air, making quotation marks as he spoke. "Kissed back."

"But, you did!"

"Alright, let's assume I did. What then?"

"Well…" Naruto looked around for a moment before he slightly shrugged. "Still assuming you 'kissed back'… Did you mean it?"

"About as much as you meant the joke."

The blonde sighed as Sasuke crossed his arms across his chest. Silence crossed between them before Naruto mumbled, "…Whadifhiid…."

The Uchiha tilted his head ever so slightly to the side.

"What?"

The blonde took a deep breath. "What if… I was just excusing it as a joke?"

Shock seemed to cross the brunette's face. Sasuke seemed to have gotten the idea, but he had to make sure.

"What do you mean? That you _meant _to kiss me?"

The blonde's eyes were frantically searching all around the hallway for something that wasn't there until they finally met Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke's eyes seemed to let up, like Naruto had magically broken down his impenetrable barrier.

"Well… At first I didn't think I did… But when you kissed back, it…"

The blonde was blushing this time, but his eyes were still locked onto the Uchiha's. The brunette seemed stunned and felt as though something had just slapped him in the face. Was it his past self? Was it the Sasuke from those two long years ago breaking his chains and taking control?

"Naruto…"

The Uchiha closed the distance between the two teens, locking Naruto's lips into his own. Their lips embracing, for the first time without accident or any other like factor, seemed like release for the two.

At first, Naruto acted surprised, but soon fell into the rhythm of their long desired kiss. The Uchiha's pale hand found its way to Naruto's cheek, cupping it with gentle admiration. As their lips parted, they stared each other in the eyes for only a moment more, before bring each other back in.

Tongues were a sure enough factor in their longing. As they fought with their tongues between their connected mouths, their hands found their ways to places they had naturally longed to touch, caress, and hold. However, their longing kiss could not last. Each boy tore apart from one another in an attempt to catch their breath. As they did so, they stared into each other's eyes again, each hoping to find something that they may have missed in the personality in one another.

Naruto and Sasuke were both held into each other's arms, Naruto more than Sasuke seeing as the Uchiha was taller than the blonde was and more easily held. The realization had hit each one as they embraced. They had loved each other and there was no denying it now.

* * *

"Sasuke…?"

The blonde nudged the Uchiha as they descended in the elevator. Their kiss had stunned both and they were each as equally speechless, now knowing that they had weight lifted off their backs. Naruto even admitted to himself _and _Sasuke, the feelings were there. Naruto didn't deny it now nor did Sasuke and that fact made things easier between them. Even easier than it had before.

"Hm?"

The Uchiha looked over to Naruto attentively, more so than he'd ever seen out of the brunette.

"Um… I think we shouldn't see each other…"

Sasuke acted as if he'd been it in the face with a brick. Naruto looked up and was startled by the Uchiha's hurt expression. The blonde quickly explained himself.

"I-I didn't mean forever, Sasuke! I just meant until after the concert. Just to let things sink in."

The Uchiha's hurt expression soon changed into a relieved, then thoughtful one. The blonde looked at the Uchiha, patiently. Naruto thought it was a good idea. Things _were _moving fast and he'd wanted some time alone to reflect on what happened.

Sasuke put his hand to the blonde's cheek, turning him to face the Uchiha's pale, smiling face.

"Sure. I understand."

The Uchiha leaned in to give Naruto a sweet, deep kiss. The kiss would have been intensified, but a sudden _ding _made the boys part as the elevator doors opened. The Uchiha, without another word, left the blonde behind. He walked over to where the rest of the class had gathered. Most were sitting in the red chairs and a few were standing. Sasuke just decided to lean against a nearby wall, as his eyes scanned the room. They finally landed on Naruto, who went to join his other friend, Lee.

_Why did I try to deny it? I love him. _

The Uchiha then felt a sense of acceptance overcome his senses. It was everywhere inside him. It made him feel like he could breathe, like he could see, like he was finally alive. It was foreign to the Uchiha. He'd never felt anything like this.

_Is this what it's like? To love and be loved? Damn… Love stories got nothing on this one._

* * *

The stadium was already packed with crazed Linkin Park fans, almost every one Sasuke had seen with a Linkin Park shirt on. The Uchiha thought about getting a shirt for a moment, then decided that he didn't want to be a clone amidst the group. The Uchiha could see his blonde ahead of their group as they waited in line to get into the main stadium. He could tell Naruto was still talking with Lee. Sasuke let a smile pull his lips up.

_**My **__Naruto. He's actually mine… _

Many minutes later and a little bit of walking, they were finally in front of the stage. Luckily for the class, they got the floor section. It slightly perturbed the Uchiha, being in the crowd, so he decided to stand outside of the group. Not long after, the lights of the stadium went out and the crowd began to cheer wildly as Linkin Park came out, lead singer screaming into the microphone.

The crowd before Sasuke began jumping and singing along with the song. It was odd, but Naruto seemed to be completely apart from the group. Although the blonde was in perfect synch with every other person, he seemed to stand out more than others do. As if he were the only one making the crowd move. Gravity no longer held Sasuke.

The Uchiha knew what Naruto had said – space to think and process. But, Sasuke felt an urge. An urge he wanted to satisfy now, one that seemed to just call to him. This whole experience was new to the brunette. So, he could either ignore it and be given those consequences, whatever they may be, or do as it wanted and receive _those_ consequences. Sasuke's body screamed for the latter, but Sasuke thought he'd try to wait it out. See if it would go away.

_I can wait. This concert can't be all that long anyway._

An hour passed and the urge Sasuke had was still there. He also noticed that, not once, had his eyes gone away from the yellow speck in the crowd. As Linkin Park began to play their new single, Not Alone, the Uchiha found himself rushing through the crowd. He pushed people away as he cut through the now swaying crowd.

"_You go! Giving up your home! Go, leaving all you've known!"_

As the lead singer sang through the main chorus, Sasuke had finally reached Naruto. The blonde still hadn't noticed Sasuke.

"_You are not alone! You are not alone!"_

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's wrist, and began pulling him back through the crowd. Sasuke knew that the blonde must've been confused, and would be yelling. However, the stadium was full of loud noise so it was impossible to hear someone even talking when they were right by you. Sasuke noticed a few people looking at the two boys. It might have been an odd scene. One that needed no reason to stare or even laugh at. However, Sasuke couldn't care.

The Uchiha continued to drag the blonde out of the crowd then out of the door they had entered. Once they were in the outer hall, Sasuke could hear complaints coming from Naruto.

"What the hell? Sasuke! Where are we going?"

The Uchiha was now at a running pace as he turned his head to look at Naruto. The Uchiha smirked, then replied, "Just follow me! We're going somewhere else!"

* * *

Naruto had slightly complained at first, but then he began to realize the fun in racing Sasuke. Sasuke was fast, but Naruto was faster… Almost. The two boys continued running down the streets in Rome, passing pedestrians as they did so in a flurry of running feet. After running for a while, the Uchiha saw a park coming up ahead and he decided to change their course of action. He made a quick and sharp right, slightly leaving the blonde behind.

The sudden change in direction surprised the blonde, but he soon changed his course and was shortly behind the Uchiha once again. Sasuke began to slow down and finally collapse in front of a giant oak tree. Naruto soon landed by him, breathing heavily just as the Uchiha was. Both boys were now laying next to each other, their arms stretched out wide. In a matter of seconds, they were both laughing a full-hearted laugh.

After a few more moments of laughing, Sasuke pushed himself up and balanced himself on one elbow, towering over the blonde's face. The Uchiha's bangs fell in front of him and almost touched the blonde's cheeks. Naruto smiled and cupped Sasuke's cheek with his hand as he spoke, "I can't believe you took me out of a Linkin Park concert for a race! You know we're going to get into big trouble for just running off… Right?"

The Uchiha chuckled and planted a light kiss on the blonde's forehead.

"Like I give a shit."

Even in the dark, Sasuke could tell a blush had come onto Naruto's face. It made the Uchiha chuckle again before standing up and making his way to the big oak. Naruto sat up on his elbows to see that Sasuke had sat down against the big oak and was signaling Naruto to come over to him. The blonde then crawled over to the brunette and sat between Sasuke's spread legs. He laid his head on Sasuke's still deep breathing chest and felt Sasuke's wide arms around himself.

"You know, Sasuke… I could sue you."

This confused the Uchiha terribly.

"What? Why?"

Naruto laughed lightly to himself.

"You're technically an adult and I'm technically underage. You're just a sick, old man."

Usually, Sasuke would've punched someone in the face for that smart line. But, Sasuke only found himself chuckling along with Naruto. Sasuke _was _18 and Naruto was 17. In a sense, the blonde was right, all joking aside.

"Hope you've got a good attorney then, Uzumaki."

"Hey! No more last name stuff. It makes me think of all those bad times."

The brunette rolled his eyes.

"Sure, sure."

Both teens shared a comfortable silence as each of them looked up to the sky. The sky was completely clear and the stars could be seen well from this part of Rome. Despite the usual city lights, they had dimmed around the park they were in and stars were easily spotted. The moon, obviously hard to miss, was a full one. Not a cloud in the sky, not a cloud in the boys' minds. Everything was as clear as the night sky tonight. Despite the chilly air, the body heat they shared was enough to keep each other warm.

Sasuke and Naruto sat in their embrace for a few, long minutes before Sasuke broke the night-filled silence by clearing his throat.

"I'm sorry..."

The blonde raised an eyebrow and turned his head to look into Sasuke's eyes. His coal-black eyes seemed to be a thousand miles away, as if the Uchiha were seeing events unfold elsewhere in the world.

"What?" Naruto questioned, truly confused by Sasuke's statement.

"I don't understand anything, Naruto...," the Uchiha murmured as he fiddled with Naruto's right hand.

The blonde opened his mouth to say something but instead quickly closed it, suddenly unsure of what to say. Sasuke's eyes seemed to return to himself for they looked at Naruto who was watching a nearby couple walking along the stone path, hand-in-hand. The Uchiha looked to observe the foreign couple as they made their way out of the park and onto the lamp-lit sidewalks.

"What do you mean, Sasuke?"

The blonde's sudden question caught Sasuke off guard as he wasn't expecting the blonde to speak up.

"I never thought I'd end up with... With..." The Uchiha fished for the right words.

"A guy?" Naruto offered.

"No! Well, I mean, yeah. Or no..." Sasuke could feel his face heat up as he stumbled over his words. He hoped Naruto wouldn't being up the gay issue.

"That's...," Sasuke tried again, "Not what I was trying to say!"

"You touchy on that subject?"

The Uchiha tried to play dumb while willing away the persistant heat on his cheeks.

"What subject?"

"The whole... Gay thing." Naruto said finally, handling the word "gay" as if it were his first time using it in conversation.

"I'm not gay."

The blonde scoffed lightly before replying curtly, "Are you calling me a girl?"

"No! I just..." Sasuke let out a sigh filled with tension.

"Lighten up, Sasuke, I'm just trying to give you a hard time."

Sasuke could hear the lightness and smile in the blonde's tone, but his lips remained pursed. He was thrown off course with Naruto's smart little comment. He'd never addressed the whole gay thing. Ever. He preferred oi call it a gray area even if he didn't like to talk about it.

"Look, Sasuke, I'm confused too. I don't understand why I thought a kiss might equal a funny prank or why I even tried to communicate with you in the first place. You always just seemed like... Well, for lack of better words... A miserable dick who didn't know the meaning of fun."

The Uchiha thanked the cover of night allowing him to slip a small smile onto his face. Sasuke looked down at the bright yellow head just below his chin and realized that Naruto was waiting for Sasuke to say something. The Uchiha swallowed hard.

"I don't know why I didn't just turn around and go home when I saw you at the airport... Or why I got jealous of Cartina. So... I guess that makes us a couple of confused teenagers."

Sasuke felt the blonde's shoulders rise and fall quickly, his back rumbling from the deepness of his chuckle.

"Right. Maybe that's better. Not gay, just confused."

The blonde turned around and pulled the pale boy into a gentle kiss whom returned the action. The Uchiha instensified the kiss by pulling Naruto in closer, making the kiss much more intimate. Their lips parted only for a moment as Naruto got onto his knees, turned to face the brunette, and sat on Sasuke's lap. As Naruto sat, he was pulled into another of the pale boy's lip embrace.

Sasuke's tongue was the first to make its move as it entered the blonde's waiting mouth. The Uchiha's tongue moved all around within the younger boy's mouth, especially around the foreign feeling tongue the blonde possessed. The Uchiha could feel himself becoming more and more excited. He wouldn't be able to hold it back much longer.

But before Sasuke's excitement rose, the blonde suddenly pulled away much to the Uchiha's disappointment. Naruto put his forehead against the brunette's, Naruto's softly spiked hair tickling Sasuke's forehead. Naruto's deep blue eyes seemed like an endless ocean when Sasuke stared into them. He almost felt as if the corny pickup line, "Do you have a map? Because I'm lost in your eyes." really apllied to the blonde. Would it be so corny if it were true?

"Sasuke...?" The blonde asked, his breathing becoming more steady and even.

"Hm?"

"What did you mean about being sorry?"

All hints of joking and humor had escaped the blonde as he waited for an answer. The Uchiha tore his gaze away from Naruto's.

"I'm sorry for everything... Sorry I didn't just tell you about how I started to feel... Sorry that I didn't tell you about that one night... It was stupid of me to keep that from you. I wasn't helping anything by keeping you in the dark... Not to mention the party, suspension, and-"

Sasuke stopped as he felt a soft, tan finger against his lips. The Uchiha pulled his eyes back up to see Naruto smiling.

"It's fine, Sasuke. I understand. It's not like I'm completely innocent, either. We're only human, sour puss." Naruto said, his girn growing on his face.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and pulled the blonde into a warm embrace. Naruto nuzzled his face into the Uchiha's pale neck, taking in his very scent. Neither wanted the moment to end. The moment when things were seeming to be so easy now. The moment when both boys felt accepted and felt that the past two years had been a confusion of nightmares, unrealized feelings, and gnawing questions.

As the blonde opened his eyes and looked at Sasuke's neck and saw his pale skin and neck-length, black hair, he was suddenly - and painfully - reminded of something. A certain something that he'd never want to be around again. Why was he suddenly reminded of this? Why did it have to flutter to his mind now?

_Dammit... No, no, no! Sasuke... Isn't Itachi! He'd never do that... I KNOW he wouldn't. But... Should I tell him? It shouldn't be his to worry about... I didn't..._

The blonde could feel the beginnings of tears floating to the ducts of his eyes. His eyes burned and began filling to the brim with tears. Luckily for the blonde, he'd been known to hold back tears when they seemed inevitable to over flow.

_Do not cry... Do not cry... Do NOT..._

The blonde could feel Sasuke beginning to come away from the long embrace. Naruto panicked slightly and put his head onto the Uchiha's shoulder and moved into the nape of his pale neck, trying to hide his eyes from Sasuke's view. The hiding from Sasuke's view was working effectively enough, but Naruto's sudden reclusive behavior confused the brunette.

"Naruto? Are you alright?"

It took the blonde a few moments to reply, seeing as he was trying to make the damn tears go away. He was secretly using Sasuke's jacket as a tissue for his tears, letting them soak into the fabric.

_Hopefully Sasuke doesn't notice… Dammit I'm so stupid…_

A few moments later and Naruto jumped away from Sasuke, onto his feet. Sasuke was slightly confused as the weight of the blonde was lifted away from his chest and was a bit surprised to see Naruto already standing, hand outstretched to help him up. Sasuke blinked a couple times before taking the blonde's hand and standing up.

"Come on, Sasuke. We should get back before they start to leave from the concert or else we'll be in some trouble."

With that, the blonde took off back in the direction of the stadium with Sasuke tagging along behind him as he inspected a peculiar wet spot on the shoulder of his jacket.

* * *

**Sasukec: Oooh! Me uber excited for the next chap! :D**

**Hope you guys enjoyed x3**

**Reviews are quite lovely all year round!**


	17. Scars

**Sasukec: My, oh, my. I am a terrible updater, aren't I? I've probably lost some of my readers due to my prolonged intervals of updates ^_^'''''' Ah, who am I kidding, HAVE lost readers due to the longevity of my updates. Wish it wasn't so T.T**

**I love you all very much!**

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke made their way back to the stadium just in time to get on the buses without anyone noticing them amiss in the first place. The blonde suggested they sit apart from each other on the bus so no suspicion would be given to the other students. Not that it made much sense to Sasuke, but he decided that if it made the blonde comfortable, then he had no problem with it. Well… Hypothetically speaking, of course.

The bus ride back seemed to drag on for the Uchiha. Was he really so apprehensive to be back within arm's reach of the blonde? Sasuke stopped and thought to himself, reflecting on the past 24 hours or so. It all happened so quickly, it made his head want to whirl. So much in so little time, it seemed almost impossible. Surreal in its own way.

_We jumped at the feelings so quickly… One sentence from Naruto and we're all over each other_. _Have we really repressed it…? Or are we just lonely? Or desperate…?  
_  
The brunette tried to keep the latter thoughts out of his head and gave it his all on focusing in on the landmarks that appeared more than seemingly possible in any city. None other than Rome, Italy, the city of love could this happen. Nu-uh, no way, no other how. Sasuke could've sworn he was in some bad love story. The kind girls swoon over and gossip about even the slightest detail.  
But, even though he felt as though it all happened like it would in a written book, he couldn't help but being happy. Happy that maybe this was really all his cheesy love story. Naruto and Sasuke's cheesy love story. Their story. He suddenly didn't want it any other way. Book, cheesy, or love story regardless.

The Uchiha was brought out of his thoughts of suspicious forces at work as their hotel came into view as the tour bus turned a corner. The building really was massive and hard to miss. Not that anyone would want to in the first place.

As the bus's tires came to a protesting halt, the doors opened with nearly the same amount of creaking. Nice bus, bad hinges. The Uchiha was the first to get off the bus since he decided to sit ahead of the blonde, in the very front. Didn't want to get too distracted in the back by that yellow hair. Students began pouring out of the bus behind him, along with any other tourists happening to catch a ride on the same bus. Without stopping to listen to what Ms. Anko had to say, he stuck his hands into his pockets and made his way into the hotel lobby. It almost felt like coming home now. Even though they'd only been there three days, they've been long ones. Not to mention, eventful. A simple trip to Italy was much more than either boy could have anticipated or expected.

Sasuke continued past the evening tourists and hotel attendants alike to finally arrive at the elevators. He pushed the button, calling the elevator which automatically opened itself to him. Luckily for him, it hadn't seen any use for some time.

Once on the elevator, the machine began working its way against gravity to the desired floor. Sasuke's head was still buzzing with thoughts.

_What does this mean for us? We've already taken things to a high level before… Could it happen again?_ Sasuke began to doubt himself.

_No… Probably not yet. Last time was a complete mistake and it wasn't right. Wasn't right at all. So… What do I do? "Hello Naruto! I love your body! Wanna fuck?" Jesus, help me…  
_  
_Ding!  
_  
The sound of the elevator reaching the designated floor went off and Sasuke absentmindedly stepped out of the elevator as the automatic doors opened. The Uchiha pulled out his key and inserted it into the door. He then opened the door and entered the dark… Wait. The lights were already on. Sasuke knew they turned the lights off before they left. Someone's here.

"Naruto? You already here?" The Uchiha heard himself call as he closed the door.

"Yeah," the blonde said as he was sitting on the window, "beat ya here, teme."

Sasuke let a small smile onto his face just as the blonde let a grin onto his own.

_Calm down Sasuke… Just go over to him, sit, be a good boy… Be a good boy… No making a first move… Good boy… Heel... Why the hell am I talking to myself like a dog?_

"You okay over there, Sasuke?"

Naruto's voice shook the Uchiha out of his slight mental breakdown.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just…" The brunette made his way over to Naruto and sat down next to him on the window. "A lot on my mind."

Sasuke inconspicuously slid his left hand closer to Naruto, trying to hold back as best he could. He was allowing himself only that much. The rest needed to be up to the blonde.

"I know what you mean." Naruto replied sounding distant but his eyes locked onto Sasuke's own told another story. Was it the same look that the Uchiha felt he had looking at his new lover? Could it be Naruto wanted and held himself back just as much as the Uchiha did? He was only human.

The teens sat in a silence for few moments, their eyes never wandering away from one another, not even wavering in the slightest. Neither boy was quite sure of whether he should go first or not. Make the first move that would confirm their emotions, wants, and desires. Make it official. But, once one moved, the other was certain to follow.

All of Sasuke's restraints on himself were torn free by Sasuke from two years ago. The Sasuke that admitted to both himself and Naruto, that he was in love. In a way, the Uchiha saw much of the same in Naruto. Restrained by a woman he felt that he loved, when he knew it was a fulfillment. A temporary setback that led to the eventual passionate kiss the two teens were sharing between each other now.

Now that the first move had been made, it was freedom for either. Freedom to touch, caress, hold, say, or do. An unconditional love that couldn't be held back now. The Uchiha moved closer to Naruto, his hands running wild through the blonde's softly gelled hair and his kisses wanting more. The blonde was now leaned up against the wall, his back meeting the cool wall and his eager hands already reaching up to loosen the Uchiha's tie and unbutton his shirt. Each boy understood haste and this was a time for it. The world disappeared in their rush, both shirts soon landing on the ground.  
However urgent their rush, Sasuke found time to make his way around the blonde's mouth, tracing every tooth, both sides of his cheek on the inside, and the strange but lovely tongue that fought to massage Sasuke's pleasuring tongue. Sasuke's tongue continued its plight as his hand found its way down the blonde's unveiled chest and to his clothed crotch. He found that the blonde was growing excited and could feel his member growing harder as he massaged it through his pants. A soft moan came from the blonde's throat, giving Sasuke more of a chance to explore the other teen's mouth as he pleased.

His exploration did not last long as he needed to pull away for a breath of air. He realized he'd forgotten to breathe. As the Uchiha's massaging hand began to find its way into Naruto's pants, so did Sasuke's lips to a tan neck; sucking and nibbling, threatening to leave marks. Sasuke decided that Naruto's pants were becoming a nuisance. He quickly unbuttoned the troublesome pants and tore them off before throwing them into the growing pile of clothes. The Uchiha thought his pants were going to go soon enough, so he did the job quickly.

Sasuke got on his knees after removing his own pants. He could easily see the blonde's erection easily piercing through the fabric of his boxers. It was only a second more before Naruto's erection was revealed then disappeared again, this time in Sasuke's sucking mouth. Naruto let out a sigh of pleasure, feeling Sasuke's tongue roll over and massage his head before rubbing the sides of his shaft. The massaging was almost greater than the tight pressure of the sucking the Uchiha was producing.

Sasuke's sucking and massaging were slow and only made the blonde moan for more. The brunette could feel Naruto's hands eagerly moving through his hair, trying to subtly make the Uchiha go faster. However, Sasuke took his time in massaging every inch of his cock. He traced the main vein that lay underneath, the sides again, the slit of his head – which already tasted of precum –, and stopping his sucking to lick up and down each sides of the hard member.  
"Please…" The blonde moaned, sincerely asking for more.

Sasuke obeyed well enough, taking the blonde's cock back into his mouth and sucked his hardest and fastest. His head quickly bobbed up and down the length of his member, making sure the blonde's head hit the back of his throat each time. The taste of precum only became stronger, as did the blonde's moans. It wasn't long before the Uchiha felt Naruto's cock slightly twitch before a load of his hot seed burst into Sasuke's mouth.

Sasuke removed his mouth from Naruto's cock to swallow the semen he'd received, using his right hand to help the blonde ride out his orgasm. The Uchiha's hand moved up and down the blonde's member hard and slow. The blonde's cum was now all over Sasuke's hand as well as his own member and stomach. Once Naruto had stopping cumming, Sasuke leaned down to clean off all the cum he could find with his tongue, cleaning off his hand first, the blonde's inner thigh, cock, and stomach.

One thing Sasuke noticed, but tried to make little note of, was that Naruto's member had odd marks all around it. He didn't have long to study the marks, or rather scarring indentions, but he couldn't have recognized the marks as anything other than teeth marks. The marks confused him, but now was not the time to worry about those things.

The Uchiha pulled himself up to meet the blonde's panting and open mouth. As their lips made contact, Naruto began speaking between kisses, "I… Don't get it…"

Sasuke stopped for a moment to pull his face a few inches away from the blonde's to look him in his blue eyes. Naruto looked around, not meeting Sasuke's gaze, but rather looking at each of Sasuke's arms which landed on each side of the wall behind Naruto. The moonlight struck Sasuke's arms, giving them the appearance of being much more pale and translucent than usual.

Sasuke waited for Naruto to continue, listening to the blonde's increasingly even breathing. After a few minutes, the brunette replied just as quietly, "Don't understand what, Naruto?"

Sasuke's right hand took its place off of the wall the brush Naruto's yellow hair from his sweat covered brow. This finally made Naruto make eye contact.

"I don't understand… Everything."

The Uchiha paused for a moment, reading true confusion in Naruto's moonlit eyes. Sasuke took a deep breath before bringing the blonde into a loving embrace, his hands gently massaging his bare, cold back. "Talk to me." Sasuke declared in a soothing voice.

Naruto laid his head on the pale boy's chest, loving the feel of his cheek against the warm flesh. He closed his eyes and words flooded out.

"I don't understand why, just two days ago, you hated my guts. You barely talked to me let alone looked at me…"

Ouch. That was a blow Sasuke wished he didn't make. The Uchiha didn't think Naruto took it so hard. Did he really?

"And how you acted like you were the most miserable person alive while you were by me…" The blonde paused.

"I… I guess you should know about the last day we were in suspension two years ago."

Naruto opened his eyes and looked up to Sasuke, waiting for him to continue.

"Well…" Sasuke began, "the day I saw you with Karin… It was also kind of the day that I fell for you."

Sasuke could feel the blonde's head twitch up in surprise. The Uchiha continued despite Naruto's apparent surprise, "When I saw you two were together, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't fall and get hurt again. Because that was the very first time I'd ever fallen for someone so much… Only to fall into pieces."

Sasuke looked out the nearby window, observing the large coliseum as the pain he once held showed prominently in his coal eyes.

"I remember thinking that I was a fool to even think about being with you. That you had other ideas about things like that. So, I felt embarrassed and stupid… That's why I made sure you didn't see me after we were told to pack up. I didn't want you to see me in such a broken up way…"

Sasuke closed his eyes, letting a tear slip out from his memories.

"I couldn't stop the tears that day. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I convinced myself that what I fell for was weak and inexcusable and I eventually fooled myself into thinking I never even felt that way for you. So, I suppressed it. I smothered the feelings under my own pride and dignity so something like that wouldn't happen again. That included transferring out of that class… If I saw you again, it might've destroyed what I'd already began to carefully construct."

The Uchiha paused as he felt drops of liquid running down his chest. He then realized as he looked down that Naruto was crying.

"Naruto…? Please-"

The blonde lay his hands gently on each cheek of Sasuke's, and pulled him closer to lock his lips with the other boy. The Uchiha slowly closed his eyes and leaned into the simple kiss. Their kiss lasted for a moment longer before Naruto pulled away, both of his hands still resting on the Uchiha's cheeks.

"Sasuke… Why didn't you tell me… Something, _anything_?"

The brunette turned his eyes away, not sure what exactly to say.

"I just… Couldn't bring myself to do it."

Naruto brought him into another simple kiss before softly replying, "I guess I understand… People make mistakes and I guess this was just one of them. But, I guess some doors are closed so new doors can open… New and better doors."

The blonde smiled through the tears still left on his face, suddenly making the Uchiha forget all his problems in the world.

"I love you, Naruto Uzumaki."

"I love you, Sasuke Uchiha."

* * *

_Ring, ring._

_What? Morning? Already?_

_Ring, ring._

_Wait…_

Sasuke groggily opened his eyes to see his cell phone vibrating on the glass nightstand beside him. He groaned, the groan full of lazy sleep, and grabbed his phone and opened it, not bothering to even see who was calling.

"Hello…?"

"Sasuke?"

The voice on the other end was definitely older than Sasuke's, but had the same tone to it. That of which only a big brother could have.

"What the fuck, Itachi? It's four in the morning…"

"Oh… Oops."

The uchiha sat up, rubbing his eyes of sleep as Itachi continued, "Forgot about the time difference…"

"What do you want?" Sasuke snapped.

He wanted to get down to the point. The older Uchiha paused a moment.

"Can't I just call to see how my little brother is doing in Rome? It's an awfully far wats away, and I tend to-"

"Cut the crap, Itachi. You only call when you need or want something. If you're not going to say anything useful, then I'm going back to bed."

"Well, then. I suppose you don't want to hear what I have to say about Naruto."

The brunette was about to hand up when his curiosity got the best of him.

"…What about Naruto?"

"Well, I heard he was going on that trip of yours also and I wanted to see if you could find him for me."

Involuntarily, Sasuke looked behind him to see Naruto heavily asleep, not a care in the world on his tan shoulders.

Itachi continued, "I don't have his number. So, I need you to bring him a message."

Sasuke couldn't speak for a moment. He was a little afraid of what he would say. Sasuke swallowed hard.

"What's the message?"

"Let Naruto know that he dropped his work shirt in my Hummer. Not that he'll really need it, he's fired afterall. But, I thought-"

"Wait, what's it doing in your car? What do you mean he's fired?"

Itachi chuckled lightly, "Why the sudden interest? Naruto told me that you two aren't really on good terms."

The Uchiha's fear was rising as he realized that Naruto and his brother have previously talked… A lot, it seemed.

"Well, that's besides that point. I didn't think that after what happened a couple years back you two never talked again."

Sasuke could feel his own jealousy leaking from his tone. Obviously Itachi picked up on it as he paused for a long moment before continuing.

"Yeah… It was that way for some time. But after he got fired a couple weeks back, I gave him a ride and we got… Better acquainted."

The older Uchiha's innuendo couldn't be more insulting or painful.

"What're you saying?"

Sasuke could feel his voice rise in anger.

"That we're better 'friends' than we ever were."

Sasuke let his hand holding the phone slowly depart from his ear. Intermittently, he could hear his older brother trying to get his attention. However, Sasuke's mind was completely far off elsewhere and now nearly unreachable.

_Could I be overthinking things? What reason would Itachi have to lie about that? Naruto's… No…_

Itachi's voice continued for only a moment more before the Uchiha slammed his phone shut. Without anything else on his mind, the brunette got up, put his clothes and jacket on, and stormed toward the suite door. He put his hand on its golden handle and paused. He looked back at the sleeping blonde once more with tears stinging his eyes before turning away and walking out with no certain destination, only away from the blonde and this life.

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**Sasukec: Yeah, I had meant for this chapter to be so much longer, but it somehow didn't manage that! I'm terribly sorry v.v**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! We're around the climax of our story! Next chapter will hit the peak and, from there, the resolution and ending happen! Reviews always excite me! ^_^**


	18. Gut Feeling

**Sasukec: Hello my loyal readers! The impossible has come true! I have finally gotten a brand new laptop for my birthday! Which means that the writing shall now commence and continue! Please enjoy chapter 18 as I will try my best to finish up Do Ut Des! **

**On another note, I have made another Twitter account that I plan to keep up with. This Twitter account will update as I put anything new on Do Ut Des as well as any of my stories. If you wish to follow me on Twitter, my username is Sasukec18. **

**Also, I have made a Facebook page that you can like and will update as I update Do Ut Des. Just search for Do Ut Des on Facebook, and it should appear. I can't do a link on here, but if you'd like the link, please PM me. Thanks!  
**

* * *

"_Sasuke... I..." The hesitation in the blonde's voice was clear to even himself. He tried to reiterate, trying his best to put all confidence into his words.  
_

_"It was my fault." The words came out no braver, only weaker than before.  
_

_"Not good enough." The voice that responded had no fear, no reluctance, only a sure tone. The near polar opposite, as Sasuke has always been.  
_

_"You'll never be good enough now."  
_

_The face of Sasuke, which had already been surrounded by darkness, was then swallowed up by it. Moments later it revealed a Sasuke with a blood covered body, his skin, where it showed, paler than ever and his lips cracked and blue. Suddenly Sasuke's body turned to bones where they collapsed to the ground.  
Naruto suddenly felt the darkness begin to engulf him, suffocating him until finally, he could no longer breathe._

* * *

"AH!"

Naruto felt his body, his real body, jolt upward as he was shaken from his nightmare by a few knocks at the suite door. Naruto sat there a moment, disbelieving his ears. Then he disbelieved his eyes as he saw Sasuke was gone and nowhere to be seen. As his mind came more away from the trance of sleep, he realized that neither his eyes nor ears were deceiving him in the moonlit room.

"Naruto! Naruto? Please, open up!"

_That's... Miss Anko?_

The blonde slid off the bed, grabbed his boxers and pants and slipped them on, assuring Anko that he was coming as he did so. Finally, the blonde reached the door where he oddly found it unlocked when he remembered they'd locked it. Where was Sasuke, anyway?

Naruto opened the door to see a wind-blown Miss Anko, her face full of worry and sleepless hours.

"Miss Anko? What's-"

Miss Anko quickly barged in the room without a word to Naruto. She hastily looked around the room before checking the bathroom. Sasuke let her do as she wished, seeing as she knew something he didn't.

"Miss Anko, what's going on?"

Miss Anko turned on her heels to face the blonde.

"Sasuke – did he tell you anything?"

"Anything about what?"

Miss Anko went to the large window where she looked out it, seeming to expect to find him hanging outside on a ledge.

"Leaving! Running off!" She threw her hands up into the air in frustration.

"What? Where would he even go?"

"We were hoping you knew. One of the hotel attendants said they saw a man, the very same description of Sasuke, briskly walk out of the hotel and into the streets."

"Shouldn't we go look for him?"

Miss Anko sighed then began making her way back to the door.

"Not unless we have an exact idea where he is. The streets at this time are very dangerous, and I wouldn't want to risk you or any other student as well as Sasuke out there. So, we wait till morning and see if he comes back. If not, we look for him."

_Sasuke..._ Naruto thought to himself as he nodded a goodbye to Miss Anko._ What're you doing out there?_

* * *

_He was just playing me... He's been with him from the very beginning of this stupid charade._

Sasuke put his hands deep into his jacket pockets, trying to keep the cold Roman air away from him. However, the atmosphere just continued to grow colder around Sasuke alone.

The Uchiha bumped into a nearby drunk, the man obviously too intoxicated to care or make a scene. The scent of alcohol was strongly emanating from the man that it also painfully reminded Sasuke of how alcohol played a vital role two years ago. He hated it now. He hated it because now he'd fallen into a false net of safety. The one Naruto had wanted Sasuke to fall into just to find out he was getting hurt in the very end.

The more Sasuke thought about it, the more the tears began to flow and his anger grew.

_I don't want to believe it..._

As Sasuke saw the sky light up before a clap of thunder, he turned into a dark alley, devoid of the drunks of Rome and constant lights. He rested his back against a dumpster and slid down till he was sitting. Another strike of lightning occurred before the light drops of rain began to fall, growing harder and more frequent with each passing moment. Sasuke allowed himself to soak in the rain, water mixing indiscernibly with his own tears. He could care less if he got wet, nothing could be worse than the sound and feeling of his heart shattering into pieces again.

_I was stupid to think things were right._

"Well, well. Who are you, young man?"

A sly female voice emerged from the pouring rain as the question was directed at Sasuke. Sasuke thought to ignore the woman, figuring that if he did so, the woman would go away. Sasuke thought that she must've been a drunk and would eventually carry on her way.

"What's wrong, kid? You deaf?" Another voice shouted, completely on the opposite spectrum of tone from the woman.

The Uchiha felt an impact suddenly on his side which knocked the air out of him. The impact could've been harder; Sasuke knew that just from the size of the object that hit him. He looked up somewhat to see a large leg, obviously belonging to a quite stout man.

"What the hell?" The Uchiha shouted after regaining his breath. He held his hand onto the side of his body that was kicked, knowing a bruise was likely to form there.

"Oh, come on Jiroubou! You didn't even manage to knock a simple kid out!" Another voice cut in before Sasuke felt another kick to the side of his head, leaving his vision dazed and fuzzy. Sasuke next felt a thud as he realized that he'd hit the ground from the impact he'd just received. The Uchiha had a mind to find back, yet he felt as though it may have not made a difference.

Sasuke could feel himself pulling his own body back up and lunging at the nearby body. Instead of coming in contact with one of his attackers, he came in hard contact with the alley wall. Moments after, he felt a flurry of punches, kicks, and a few puncturing stabs to his abdomen. Sasuke was in such a daze, that he began to no longer feel pain as the muggers continued to ravage his body.

"Come on, you three. Just grab what he's got and let's go."

The female's voice stuck out again just before Sasuke felt one last thud to the side of his head. The Uchiha knew that he'd just been mugged and emptied of his money, but he couldn't care less. He felt as though maybe it was the cherry on the topping of tonight's events or even karma was getting one last little laugh in before his life was gone. Either way, the darkness that engulfed Sasuke was a numbness that he welcomed and wanted to stay in forever.

* * *

_I can't fall asleep… It's so hard to! No one knows where Sasuke went.  
_

Naruto continued to stare at the ceiling and let terrible visions of what could have possibly happened to Sasuke dance around his head. He first thought that maybe Sasuke just wanted to get some fresh air and everyone was freaking out for no reason. Or maybe he wanted to see what Rome was like at the middle of the night. Naruto sighed, wondering what possible alternate universe it would that Sasuke would ever be interested in anything like that. His pondering was interrupted as a loud vibration pervaded through the room.

_That's not my phone… Is it?  
_

The blonde looked over to his side of the bed and saw that his phone hadn't lit up. He then realized that the sound had come from the other side of the bed on the floor. He sat up and reached over the other side of the bed to see Sasuke's phone on the floor and lit up.

_Sasuke left his phone here?  
_

Naruto picked the phone up and opened it to find a text message from Itachi. Naruto shuddered lightly before reading the message itself: _Call me back – and make sure you tell Naruto about what talked about.  
_

_What the…?  
_

A crack of thunder startled the blonde away from the message as he heard the beginnings of rain. He sighed lightly as he hovered his thumb over the call button.

_Sasuke and Itachi talked about me? When? I'm not sure if I should call the creep or no. But he'd probably be the only one that knows where Sasuke could've gone. God, I may regret this.  
_

He hesitated a moment more before pressing the call button and bringing the phone to his ear. The blonde fiddled with the sheets before getting up and looking out the large window, listening for Itachi to answer.

"Hello?"

Naruto opened his mouth but quickly closed it. He wasn't sure what to say. He didn't formulate exactly what he was going to ask Itachi.

"Hello?" Itachi repeated, his tone one of thinning patience.

"Itachi, it's Naruto."

"Oh, hello Naruto. Why are you on Sasuke's phone?"

"Er… He left it in our room. When did you talk to Sasuke last?"

Itachi paused a moment, "Probably just under an hour ago… Why?"

"Well, he left the hotel and no one knows where he went. Did he tell you anything?"

"He actually hung up on me." Itachi nearly sounded genuinely hurt. "So, no. I know nothing."

"Okay, thanks then."

"No problem, Naruto."

Itachi strung out Naruto's name in a way that the blonde could barely stand. Especially after what happened he could barely take the guy. Naruto dreaded the day he'd have to tell Sasuke… Or anyone, for that matter.

"You're sick, Itachi."

And with that, Naruto hung up. Naruto knew what Anko had said, but he couldn't help but have a horrible gut feeling. Like something was just not right with the world. Like Sasuke was in some kind of trouble.

Without thinking twice, he quickly got fully dressed, being sure to dress warmly due to the pouring rain. He put his shoes on and then bolted out the door, feeling the urgency to find Sasuke rising.

_Please be okay, Sasuke. I hope that my gut feeling is wrong and you're just out for a walk._

* * *

**Sasukec: Yes, it's amazing! Chapter 18 has finally been completed! I apologize for it being short, but I really just wanted to get this chapter done! So, yes, I may have rushed a bit, (which means that there may likely be some grammar/spelling errors .) but I hope to make it up to you in the next few chapters! Chapter 19 is on its way.**


	19. End

**Sasukec: Well, my wonderful readers, we're finally here. This chapter will mark the end of Do Ut Des. I've made it awesomely long due to that fact that this chapter decides it all for the couple. I hope you enjoy the very last chapter of Do Ut Des: The Solitary Bliss Sequel!**

* * *

"Okay! One, two, three… Seven… Ten! Ready or not, here I come!"

A small, blonde headed boy, none other than Naruto Uzumaki, opened his eyes to see the group of kids that was once before him now gone, most likely still already running to their hiding spots. Naruto always thought he was the clever one for skipping numbers and believed that he was the only one who thought of it. He somewhat couldn't believe no one else would have thought to do the trick. He didn't consider it cheating, more of a tactic than anything else. The eight-year-old boy smiled devilishly and ran off to inspect the places he figured the other kids would hide first.

He found one hiding in the top of the playground's biggest slide, another in a nearby bush, and another behind the jungle gym. Things were going so well for the young blonde, that he felt he should keep checking obvious spots. The next spot he checked, which seemed the most obvious, was the fort house on top of the biggest toy in the park. Naruto climbed up the multiple steps and crossed the monkey bars before finally arriving at its entrance. He couldn't hear any noise inside, which made perfect sense. He timed himself, hoping to give the kids inside a good scare while he was at it.

_On three… One… Two…_

"Found you!"

The kids – or rather kid – he found inside was one he'd never seen before. He had a small face, surprisingly angular for a child, with dark black hair and coal eyes. His black hair was neat and tidy, unlike that of Naruto's own hair. His hair was that of a child that didn't play much, even though his body was slim and fit. His skin was extremely pale and he looked as though he'd never been outside for an extended period of time.

The boy in question looked up from a book he was reading and gave Naruto a funny look. Naruto could've sworn that he wasn't in the group of kids from earlier. Maybe he wasn't, but the main thing on Naruto's mind was just how big the book was that he was reading. He didn't look to be much older than Naruto was, yet he was reading a book that looked as though it belonged to an adult. The young blonde was amazed!

"Why are you reading?" Naruto asked, genuinely confused why someone would _want _to read.

The pale boy raised an eyebrow as he replied, "Because I like reading."

"Wow, that's weird! Don't you want to play hide and seek with us?"

"Reading isn't weird…" The brunette stood up, closing his book and putting it in his small messenger bag as he did so. He continued as he walked past the blonde, "I also happen to like reading. It can actually make you smarter."

"Reading is boring!"

Naruto began to follow him as he walked toward the slide to the right of the fort house. The blonde didn't know why this boy intrigued him so much when he just now met him. He'd never met someone at his age that actually liked to read.

"So what's your name?" Naruto said as they both reached the entrance of the green slide.

The pale boy stopped and turned to look at Naruto once again.

"Why?" With that, the unknown boy jumped into the slide before sliding down it. Naruto wasn't too far behind him before he caught back up to the boy as he was walking off.

"I'm just curious, that's all." The blonde admitted truthfully.

The other boy just kept walking along in silence until he reached the fence that surrounded the park. He put his hand on the chain-linked gate before turning around, "My name's Sasuke."

"Sasuke, huh? Oh! You're that new kid in town, right? My name's Naruto! Why don't you stay around here and play with us!"

Sasuke gave it a considering pause, but continued out the gate, shutting it as soon as he was out of it.

"No, thanks. Maybe another day, Naruto."

The blonde watched as the brunette boy walked down the dirt-covered road, his hands in his white shorts pockets. Naruto couldn't understand why he asked the boy his name or even took any interest in trying to find out. He was just a random new kid in town. With a small shrug, Naruto went off to find the rest of the hiding kids.

* * *

Sasuke looked up to the night sky, seeing the moon shining its brightest in weeks. He hated that he'd been forced to move to this new town. He didn't like that his father got a new job as the police force captain and had to be stationed in the town of Konoha.

_At least the sky is still the same._

Luckily, Sasuke had found himself a nice spot by a large pond where he could sit and watch the clear night sky. Being the kid he was, he enjoyed the quiet. He mostly blamed it on his parents' lack of attention to the young Uchiha. His father worked nearly all day, his mother was always busy with household tasks, and his older brother, Itachi, was always either out doing something or locked up in his room studying. Sasuke had grown accustomed to the way his family lived. Solitude had become one of his best friends that he felt may have always been there so long as he lived with his family.

The small Uchiha sat up, and yawned. Sasuke could feel it was getting late and that he'd better get home before his mother began to worry. He hadn't told anyone about this spot, not even his family, as if they would have asked him about it anyway. He picked up his messenger bag that was lying in the grass beside him and put it over his shoulder before going on his way.

_I wonder if that Naruto kid goes to the same school as me. He looked like he may be the same age. He kind of looked annoying, too…_

Sasuke laughed very lightly to himself as he continued down the dimly lit roads of Konoha. He took the only route he knew to get home. The streets were quite deserted, only a few cars passed him from time to time. Maybe it was later than he'd thought. Sasuke began to pick up his pace a bit before he heard a fire truck siren approaching behind him. He stopped for a moment, watching the truck pass him in a hurry before making a sharp right turn down into what Sasuke recognized as his neighborhood.

_Did someone's house catch on fire?_

The young Uchiha started into a small run and took the next right just as the fire truck had. He could see the fire truck just up ahead, its lights and sirens still blazing, but no longer moving forward. It was then that Sasuke realized two things. The fire truck had stopped and was currently trying to douse his house from the giant flame that currently completely engulfed it.

Coming to the reality of what was happening before his eyes, he stood frozen across the street from his flaming home. His home that he hoped to whatever God there was out there that his family was not inside the burning house. However, his hopes were wasted. Over the roar of the fire, he could hear a high-pitched scream of pain.

"Mother!" Sasuke yelled back as he ran toward the giant fire.

He could feel the flames stinging his face, the heat searing away the tears that now ran down his face. He had no other thought on his mind than racing to save his mother. She was in there, burning to death, and Sasuke couldn't get past the arms that were now restraining him. He felt useless as he watched not only his house burn down, but knowingly so with his family inside.

"Please!" Sasuke pleaded. "Please! Save them!"

The young Uchiha found himself pleading with a firefighter who still held him from rushing into the burning house. All the while, he could hear his mother's screams as they finally died down under the roar of the flames.

"Mother!"

Sasuke's loud screams and crying slowly died down to a sob as the firefighter picked Sasuke up and carried him away with words of comfort that mattered nothing to Sasuke. He was in such shock of the situation, that it took him a few more minutes to realize that he'd been screaming for his mother and father as the tears continued to roll down his face.

_They're gone…! They're gone…! They… Mother, father…! Itachi…! _

Sasuke's frantic thoughts continued through most of the time it had taken to put the fire out. Before long, he felt someone approach him as he was sitting in the firetruck's passenger seat, his body curled in on itself, his face buried into his arms that rest on his knees as if it could make the reality of what had just happened go away.

"Sasuke…" A gentle voice spoke, one that he recognized and eagerly welcomed. He looked up to confirm that it was indeed his older brother, Itachi, with red stained eyes. The younger Uchiha lunged himself at his older brother, crying loudly into his bigger brother's shoulder.

"They're gone, brother! Mother, father! They're-!"

"Shh… Everything's going to be okay, Sasuke."

Although steady, Sasuke could hear the uncertainty in his voice. As Sasuke's cries began to die down to mere sobs again, he looked up from his older brother's shoulder to see a few men bringing a couple of covered gurneys into a black car. He watched as they began to put one of the gurneys into the car and, as if time itself slowed down, he saw a charred hand fall out from the white sheets. His eyes widened, and in that suspended time, he fully understood that his parents were gone forever.

* * *

"Alright! See you guys tomorrow!"

Naruto had finished his game of hide and seek with himself coming out as top champion. He felt it was a pretty good day and decided that it was finally late enough to go home. Although, he knew he could stay out as late as he wanted. He lived on his own as an orphan in an abandoned house. He admitted that it was tough not having anyone to care for him, but he made it through all right. He even made it to school every day.

The blonde looked up to the sky to see it was a clear, full mooned night. He liked the night time, despite how quiet it was at night. He liked loud, busy things, but it didn't mean that he hated quiet things. And speaking of loud busy things, he noticed a firetruck stopped in front of what looked like a burning house.

_Woah! A house is on fire!_

He quickly ran up to the house that was currently being sprayed with water, and next his attention was pulled to a yell.

"Mother!"

Naruto's blue eyes spotted the kid he'd seen earlier. Sasuke was crying and running toward the house before a man in a firefighter uniform stopped him and carried him off, the boy's screams continuing to echo through the neighborhood.

_I guess I'd better take a different way…_

What Naruto had just seen disturbed him inside. He would never actually admit to that, but he knew that it was something that he hadn't needed to see. Sasuke seemed to know for certain that his mother was in there. Naruto pondered just how he knew if that was true or not. However, Naruto had a gut feeling that his scream wasn't for nothing and that, more often than not, that kind of dedication to try to run into a burning building usually meant… Naruto didn't want to think about it anymore. It wasn't his life, he shouldn't worry about it.

_Sucks for Sasuke. I've been alone since I could remember._

* * *

"Sasuke! Can you hear me?"

Naruto found the runaway Sasuke in a nearby alley, unconscious and bearing a busted lip and many bruises among other things. Although it was lightly raining still, in the dull Roman lights, the blonde could see some dark stains that were on Sasuke's shirt. It wasn't long before Naruto realized that Sasuke was bleeding.

Feeling more urgency than ever, Naruto brought out his cell phone and flipped it open.

_Dammit! What's the number for 911 in Rome? What was it! 118? No…! 113!_

The blonde quickly dialed the three digit number, and hurriedly explained to the one who answered the call. Moments later, he hung up, and tried to wake Sasuke.

"Sasuke! Sasuke… Please tell me you can hear me!"

The Uchiha gave no response, not even in body language. Naruto knew he was out cold and probably couldn't hear a thing. Naruto felt helpless as he knew he would have to wait for emergency crews to get to where he was at. He picked up Sasuke into his arms and sat against the wall just where the Uchiha had been. The blonde held him tightly, afraid that if he let go, he might lose Sasuke forever.

* * *

"Sasuke… Stay here while I go to talk with someone. Okay?"

The young Uchiha slowly nodded, his eyes still stinging of tears. Sasuke could still smell the burnt and charred remains of his house as he sat in the back of a police vehicle. Itachi had gone some distance away from Sasuke, enough so that he was out of ear shot, to speak with a man in a suit that Sasuke didn't quite recognize. He wondered what was to happen now that he had no house. He didn't know where he was going to live or sleep at now.

_They just can't be gone like that… Can they?_

Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted by Itachi returning to the young Uchiha and picking him up. Sasuke allowed himself to be picked up by his older brother, still curious about what was to happen now.

"I can care for him, Mr. Tate. Please, I love him and he's the only thing I have left now."

Sasuke looked to the man Itachi referred to as Mr. Tate. He now recognized the man since he was closer to him. Mr. Tate was his father's partner in the police force.

"Do you have a job, young man? Something you could support yourselves with?" Mr. Tate asked, sounding nearly as stressed as Sasuke felt.

"No, sir… I… I don't…"

"Since your father was my partner and a good friend to me… I will offer you a position within my force. You will be allowed to keep your brother under your care, so long as the DHS will be able to make regular check ups on you."

Itachi seemed surprised, "Th-thank you, Mr. Tate! Thank you so much."

Mr. Tate solemnly nodded, "Take care of yourself. And your brother. My condolences are with you both."

After Mr. Tate had walked off, Itachi hugged Sasuke tightly.

"Don't you worry, Sasuke. We're going to be okay. You just let me worry about everything, okay?"

Sasuke hugged his brother back tightly before speaking, "Okay, Itachi… I will…"

* * *

_I don't… Remember… Naruto… Itachi?_

"_Sasuke! You're going to be okay. I promise it!"_

_Naruto? What? I don't… Cold… It's… Really cold here. _

Pain seared through Sasuke's body all at once as everything came rushing back to consciousness. The Uchiha's eyes flew open to see a white ceiling above him and a clear rhythm of beeps occurring next to him. Sasuke looked toward the sound of the beeps to see a heart monitor and a sleeping Naruto in an obviously uncomfortable chair.

_If this isn't a repeat, I don't know what is…_

Sasuke tried to remember what happened, when suddenly, the hospital door opened. Sasuke realized that it was his older brother, Itachi.

_Itachi's here? In Italy?_

Sasuke didn't want to deal with his brother right now, so he pretended to still be asleep. Despite the pain he felt all over his body, he was able to focus on what was happening beyond his closed eyes through his ears.

"Naruto…" Itachi said as his footsteps grew closer. "Naruto, wake up."

Next, Sasuke heard a loud thud and skittering feet as Naruto spoke, "Stay away from me!"

"Naruto, I'm hurt. I came here to see my little brother in the hospital. I didn't know that you'd be here…"

"Seriously, Itachi. You'd better stay away from me. I'm not playing nice this time around."

Next, Sasuke heard another thud, similar to the one that had just happened a moment ago, before Itachi spoke once more, "How long has he been out for?"

"Just a couple days. He lost a lot of blood."

"I see…"

_A couple days? Lost blood? Wow, they must have messed me up more than I thought._

Silence ensued for a few minutes nearly tempting Sasuke to open his eyes. However, Naruto spoke with a tone of annoyance.

"Itachi, seriously. I'm still not exactly happy with what happened."

_So something did happen between them!_

"Oh, Naruto you know that you liked it." Itachi probed, seemingly trying to get Naruto to admit something.

"You're really sick, Itachi. Were you honest when I talked to you a couple nights ago? Did you say something to him that made him leave the hotel?" The blonde said harshly and accusingly.

"Well, I told him about us."

_Us…?_

A snort was heard before the blonde said, "_Us_? There is no us. There never was. It was just you, being selfish and getting what you wanted from me! I went on this trip just so I could get away from you!"

A moment of silence continued before the sounds of commotion and struggle began. Sasuke could tell something was going on between the two, but he wouldn't be able to tell unless he opened his eyes. He didn't want that.

"Did you tell anyone?" Itachi demanded, now angry for reasons unknown to Sasuke.

"G-Get off me!" Naruto strained out of his throat.

"Answer the damn question!"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Naruto replied, resistance crawling throughout the sentence.

_What are they talking about…? What have you hid from me, Naruto?_

Sasuke could then hear more silent struggling continue for only what seemed like a moment more before Naruto moaned very lightly.

_What the hell?_

Sasuke opened his eyes to see Itachi pressing his body roughly up against the blonde's own body as Itachi held Naruto's hands locked above his own head against the wall. Worst sight of it all that burned the back of Sasuke's throat with anger was that Itachi had his mouth against Naruto's. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw Naruto trying to fight back, giving his all to get the older Uchiha off of him. He was able to, to some extent, but he needed help.

"Itachi."

As Sasuke uttered Itachi's name, the older Uchiha stopped what he was doing immediately and turned to face Sasuke. Sasuke then painfully struggled to sit up before giving Itachi a death glare.

"Get off of him. And get out. Now."

Itachi looked back to Naruto then back to his little brother before turning sharply and exiting the room. After the door closed behind Itachi, Naruto looked over to Sasuke with eyes wide and a simply surprised expression.

"Sasuke… You're finally awake. You shouldn't be sitting-"

"I'm fine, Naruto." Sasuke interrupted pointedly.

The blonde flinched at Sasuke's words, obviously not expecting them to be so harsh. Sasuke noticed this and tried to make his next words not so hard.

"What happened?"

"How much did you hear?" Naruto asked back, making his way slowly to the chair he was originally in.

"All of it." The Uchiha said point blank.

"Oh… Oh, boy… I guess I owe you this."

Naruto explained what had happened after that day at Applebee's. How what had happened between them in that restaurant had cost him his job and, ultimately, his little encounter with Itachi. He explained why he'd gone on the trip other than for school purposes and why he'd tried to make amends with Sasuke in the first place. Sasuke listened patiently, seeing things that he hadn't before. Seeing things that were once before too dark to understand clearly but now made complete sense. The Uchiha nearly felt bad for being pretty much the sole reason he'd made Naruto lose his job. Not to mention feeling embarrassed about his older brother.

"I guess that's basically it…" Naruto said finally, "I guess I probably should have told you that from the beginning."

The Uchiha waved his hand in a brushing off motion, "The important thing is I know now."

"Good… Now, time for you to explain things. Why'd you leave the hotel in the middle of the freaking night?"

Sasuke sighed. He knew this was coming and it was inevitable. He'd might as well explain his theory now.

"I got a call from Itachi, as you apparently know, telling me to tell you that you left your work clothes in his car. I then immediately started assuming something was happening between you two because he kept on about how you two got to know each other better and… I wasn't thinking clearly."

The Uchiha looked down at the white bed sheets that lay over him. He now realized just how stupid that decision was. He didn't even know where he was going to go. Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted by a pair of arms that were suddenly around him.

"Please don't scare me like that ever again, Sasuke… Please just ask me next time… You know how much of an idiot I am. I usually can't take a hint very well."

The Uchiha was surprised by the sudden affection, but didn't turn it away.

"I'm sorry, Naruto… Like I said, I just jumped to conclusions. I assumed way too quickly."

Sasuke put his hands on one of Naruto's arms that were right in front of him, waiting for a reply from Naruto. The blonde laughed lightly.

"What? What's so funny?"

"You know what they say, Sasuke…" Naruto pulled out of the close embrace, but didn't let go fully. "Assuming makes an ass out of you and me."

The Uchiha smiled and looked to see the blonde had his goofy smile on his face. It wasn't long before Sasuke's lips were around the blonde's own lips in a deep kiss. After all the false alarms, unexplained events, and strange feelings, it all came down to this moment in time when they felt they knew each other more than ever.

* * *

Once Sasuke had gotten out of the hospital a few days later, the two teens were sent back to the hotel where they were to pack up their things and leave later that day on a flight back to their home town. Their class had already gone ahead and left a couple days earlier and arrangements had been made at their school regarding extra days missed. The two teens now found themselves already fully packed and waiting for the taxi that would take them to the airport… which was to arrive in two hours' time.

The boys decided to entertain themselves with a little play time. Sasuke found himself on top of his blonde lover kissing those lips on which he loved more each time he tasted them.

"I love you, Naruto…"

"I love you, Sasuke…"

The boys exchanged glances before Sasuke removed both of their shirts. Sasuke then moved back to the blonde's mouth where he once again explored his lover's mouth excitedly. As their tongues massaged one another, the Uchiha let one of his hands wander down the younger boy's body freely, lightly running over both of the hardened nipples he found there. Naruto let out a small moan that only made Sasuke want to hear more of. The Uchiha let his hand continue its path until it finally reached the top of the pants Naruto wore. Sasuke made sure to let his hand dance along his tan waist line smiling as he licked and sucked on Naruto neck.

"Please, Sasuke…" The blonde pleaded, obviously tired of the clothing that obstructed the two from experiencing pleasure. Sasuke played with him a little more, flicking Naruto's earlobe with his tongue a bit before beginning to unbutton Naruto's ever-growing-tight pants.

"I want to please you, Naruto…" Sasuke whispered into the blonde's ear.

Sasuke finally unbuttoned and unzipped Naruto pants before pulling them off completely and tossing them to the side. His boxers soon followed and Sasuke now had a full view of his lover in his most prime and vulnerable moment. The Uchiha wasted no time in putting Naruto's thickly-filled erection into his moist mouth. Naruto let out a sigh of attained pleasure, before he lightly moaned, "Suck me hard…"

The Uchiha obeyed to an extent, taking him into his mouth fully and humming as he did so. The blonde felt pleasure sear through him as he felt the head of his member hit the back of Sasuke's throat time and time again. Sasuke continued to slowly bob his head up and down the full length of Naruto's member, savoring every bit just as a child would their supply of Halloween candy.

Sasuke then changed his pace to slowly sucking each side of Naruto's member before sucking on the swollen head of his erection. Naruto's moans grew with each minute Sasuke continued to suck harder and faster. Sasuke could feel Naruto coming to his climax as he continued to deep throat his member with Naruto's hands entangling within his usually perfect hair.

"Sasuke…! I-!"

The Uchiha quickly took his mouth off of Naruto's member and placed his lips to the blonde's open ones. Sasuke quickly grabbed Naruto's member and began to pump his hand around the erection to left off where his mouth had. The blonde moaned into Sasuke's mouth as he felt the new sensation of Sasuke's hand roughly pumping fast and hard his entire length. Not moments later, Sasuke's hand was covered in the blonde's warm seed. The Uchiha continued to pump in order to help his lover ride out his orgasm. Once Naruto was done, the Uchiha cleaned his hand of the blonde's semen before proceeding to clean Naruto's member and abdomen of all the seed he found there.

Once he finished, he jumped up from the blonde who was still currently trying to recover from his orgasm and got rid of his own pants and boxers, exposing his longing erection. The Uchiha reached over to the glass table where they placed the lube from earlier and began to coat his own member with the juices before coating a few of his fingers with more of it. Sasuke got back onto the bed, this time on his knees, and helped Naruto to spread his legs.

Sasuke looked to Naruto for approval of what he was about to do and Naruto nodded slightly, his breath still a little out of tempo. The Uchiha proceeded to enter one of his fingers into Naruto's asshole, watching the blonde's expression as he did so. Naruto closed his eyes for a moment in pleasure before opening them once more. His glazed over blue eyes held lust, desire, and pleasure that nearly drove Sasuke crazy for more. Sasuke continued to coat the blonde's entrance with his finger before he entered another finger and, shortly after, another finger.

Naruto felt pain mixed with pleasure as he felt his tight hole being stretched and formed in different ways, his moans showing just what he felt. Sasuke continued to probe the blonde's entrance until he deemed it ready for his own member. Using what was left of the lube on his fingers, he put his hand on his own member to help guide it into Naruto's entrance with precision. The Uchiha then shoved his member into the blonde quickly and roughly, releasing the tension that had built up to this moment.

"Move… Please, Sasuke…" Naruto pleaded under heavy breaths.

Sasuke pulled his member out until only the head disappeared within his asshole before he, almost violently, rammed his erection back in. This gave Naruto pain that indiscernibly mixed into pleasure and sent moans flowing from his throat like never before. The Uchiha then began a rhythm that changed between hard and fast to slow and gentle. Sasuke continued to try all kinds of different speeds to both tease and see what he would get out of Naruto.

It seemed that Naruto wanted it hard and fast, any other way was too much for the blonde to stand. So, Sasuke continued to speed up his rough pace, loving the tight feeling of Naruto.

"Faster, Sasuke…!"

The Uchiha sped up his pace, leaning his head onto the blonde's shoulder. Sasuke's breath was now nearly as heavy as Naruto's as he felt his orgasm nearing with each pump. After a few more minutes of hasty pumps, the Uchiha brought Naruto's lips to his own once more.

"I love you, Naruto Uzumaki…"

With that, Sasuke could feel himself cum inside of the blonde with a loud and satisfying moan. Moments later, the blonde came as well with some help from Sasuke's hand once again. Exhausted and satisfied, both boys lay together in their own sweat and cum mixed in unidentifiable ways. The Uchiha moved the blonde's hair out of his forehead and smiled before planting a simple kiss on his lips.

"We should probably get ready to catch that taxi." Naruto said with a smile after he caught his breath.

Sasuke nodded and stood. The Uchiha then thought up a wonderful idea.

"We should probably take a shower, now…"

The blonde got what Sasuke was hinting at as quickly as Sasuke had thought it up. The blonde cheerfully agreed to Sasuke's "proposal" and they went to wash themselves off in the shower.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke had both made it back to their home town without any more problems. Luckily for Naruto, he had the whole trip back to their home town to be able to make up some stuff about his trip to write in his journal so he'd still be able to get credit enough to pass the class.

The teens' relationship made it through the rest of the year and Sasuke was able to graduate at the top of his class and then he continued to wait for Naruto to graduate himself. Once Naruto graduated, they made plans to go to the same college and were both accepted into the University of Konoha. Also, luckily for them, they received the same dorm room and are expecting to become wonderful roommates this time around.

Will their relationship continue to be one of their dreams, or will their relationship hit a few more bumps that could possibly end it? Only time can tell this story.

* * *

**Sasukec: That's it, my wonderful readers! I left this slightly open on the off chance that if there is enough demand I might possibly make another one. This time, it'd play out in college. Only condition! There must be a demand for it! If no one demands it, or I don't get any great ideas for it, then there will be no more. It's mainly up to all of you, really :)  
**

**Anyhow, I want to thank you for going on this long journey with me. It always makes me kind of sad once I finish a story… It's fulfilling and just… Ah, I don't need to be going on haha. I hope you enjoyed a creation of what I love to do: write. Reviews are always awesome and even more fulfilling ;)**


	20. Epilogue

**Sasukec: Hello, Do Ut Des fans! I have gotten quite a good amount of feedback telling me to make a trilogy! So, I cannot resist any longer! This trilogy does not have a name yet, but think of this being an epilogue previewing the first bits of it. Hopefully you enjoy! **

**EDIT: LINK AT BOTTOM FOR TRILOGY!  
**

* * *

**Epilogue**

The day was finally here. The day that would open the door into adulthood, freedom, and other steps along the way that would define the rest of his life. Once Naruto entered through the doors before him, there was no turning back; it was the point of no return.

"Naruto, you coming inside, or not?"

The blonde came back to reality where he saw his boyfriend, Sasuke Uchiha, standing in the doorway of their new college dorms. With a box of his belongings in his hands and an overstuffed backpack on his back, the blonde felt the items growing heavier with each moment. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the blonde and asked again, "You coming? Or are you going to chicken out at the last minute?"

"It just feels like this is it! Like this is the 'moment of truth'. The moment that I'll look back on and think, 'this is where I took my first steps into my life!'"

The Uchiha rolled his eyes before replying, "Just get in the damn school."

"And then I'll remember, 'oh yeah! That was also the day that destiny was forced upon me by the loving and caring Sasuke Uchiha!'"

Sasuke laughed lightly before signaling with his head for Naruto to continue in.

"Come on. We have to find our dorm. Don't you have Trig today?"

Naruto took one last look up at the tall, brick building before nodding and making his way past the double glass doors. Inside was a long hallway of doors on either side, filled with people of different ages passing in any which direction. Naruto assumed they all must have been students.

"Ugh, yeah. Luckily it's my only class today. You don't have any today, right?"

Sasuke nodded before replying, "I have two classes tomorrow, though."

"Oh yeah. We both have comp 1 together!"

The Uchiha nodded once more before abruptly stopping before a door that read 24A. He brought out a key from his pocket, and opened the door to reveal a square dorm room with a bed on each side of the room, a medium-sized window in between the two beds, and two wooden doors to the left and right of them. Below them was a white carpet and a desk situated directly under the open-curtained window.

"Wow, pretty nice dorm. A little used, maybe, but I like it."

Naruto commentated as he set his backpack and box of belongings on the right bed. Sasuke did the same, setting his things down on the opposite bed as Naruto checked out each door that was in their room.

The Uchiha continued to quietly unpack his things as Naruto explored the other door, finding both to be a good-sized closet. Sasuke looked over to Naruto and saw that he was happily smiling at the Uchiha. Sasuke couldn't resist as he walked up to the blonde, bringing him into a deep kiss. Naruto was slightly surprised by this action, but kissed back. Sasuke's hands moved their way through every inch of yellow hair he could find on Naruto's head before Naruto pulled away.

Sasuke hadn't noticed, but the blonde's phone was going off, much to the brunette's disappointment. Naruto reached into his back pocket, pulling his iPhone out to see that it was an alarm, reminding him that he needed to head to class. Naruto stopped the alarm as Sasuke walked over to his bed, and sat down on the edge of it.

"Sorry, Sasuke. Duty calls?"

Sasuke smiled slightly before throwing his body back onto the bed, one arm covering his eyes as the other shooed Naruto away.

"You don't have to be so depressive about it. It's my only class." Naruto said as he rummaged through his backpack for his Trig book and other necessities.

"I'm not being depressive."

"Okay, then… Pouty."

This made Sasuke sit up in slight annoyance.

"I don't pout."

The blonde turned around to see a sour faced Sasuke with one eyebrow raised. This, in turn, made Naruto laugh before giving the Uchiha a light peck of a kiss.

"Oh, trust me. _That_ is a false statement."

Naruto quickly made his way out of the room to avoid being hit with any sort of blunt object that he suspected could leave any permanent damage. After closing the room 24A door behind him, he took a deep breath.

_Time to find Trig…_

Luckily for Naruto, his classroom was within the building right next door, so his walk wasn't a very long one. Before he knew it, he was standing before Math Lab 02, contemplating running away.

_Would it be worth it if I just… Ran away? No, definitely not. Just walk in, no eye contact. Survive the droning of the professor, and get back to the dorm. Simple!_

"Um… Are you lost?"

A soft, tenor voice spoke up, obviously directing his question at the blonde. Naruto came out of his reverie and noticed a male that looked to be not much older than Naruto himself and looked nearly identical to Sasuke. His skin was almost as pale, his hair was shorter, however, and he had a very small hint of Asian descent etched into his features. He wore small, darkly rimmed glasses atop his black haired head, a white-button up shirt with a black tie, tucked into dark denim jeans. Naruto considered him to be pretty good looking, but that may just have been because he looked so much like Sasuke.

"Oh, um… No, no. I'm here for Trig."

"Ah," He smiled sweetly. "So, you're in Trigonometry as well. Nice to see a new face. I'm Sai."

Sai held out his hand to the blonde, and Naruto took it tentatively and shook it.

"Naruto." The blonde continued, "You a freshman, too?"

Sai nodded, "Second semester freshman, anyhow. Don't look so daunted about Trig. It's not as bad as everyone says."

Naruto made his way into the stadium-like classroom, replying as he did so, "You sure about that? I heard this subject made someone die from lack of understanding."

Sai laughed lightly as he followed Naruto up the steps and into a row of wooden seats where they both sat waiting for class to start.

"Somehow, I doubt it. Word around this college can be really unreliable."

"Oh, sorry. Maybe they just went into a coma…?"

"Now _that_ sounds more probable. Don't worry. I've been in this class in high school. I'll help you out with anything you need."

Naruto smiled and nodded, happy that he'd already made acquaintances with someone on his very first day here.

"Thanks, man. I don't know if this means much to you, but ditto."

Little did Naruto know, his meeting with Sai would bring much more trouble to his college days than he could have ever imagined.

* * *

**Sasukec: I hope you enjoyed what little preview there is to this trilogy! You can all most likely predict from that last little bit what will mainly be happening within the next one. This is just a teaser of the first chapter, and more will be added onto it for the actual chapter, maybe some things changed and edited, but only time will produce that :)**

**Make sure you keep on the lookout for the new story/first chapter posting! It'll be sure to happen within a week or two from today! Reviews are always lovely because feedback will make this all the better! :D**

**EDIT: A Bitter Pill is the story that follows this one and here is its location: www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/7423948/1/A_Bitter_Pill**

**Sorry for the dots within there, just replace them with .  
Fanfiction doesn't really like links very well. Enjoy and can't wait to see you there!  
**


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